


Beyond the Horizon

by AAvery



Category: ATEEZ (Band), ONEUS (Band)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Based off the anime Fate/Stay Night, Characters do die but its okay, Don't need to have watched it to understand, Eventual Sexual Content, M/M, Mage AU, Mythology - Freeform, Reprised from a different fic, Supernatural Elements, characters ages changed, depictions of violence, minor gore, there's a happy ending i promise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:41:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28778475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AAvery/pseuds/AAvery
Summary: It had been a relatively normal trip to the grocery store, even if it was almost eleven o'clock at night and his groceries were a bit out of the ordinary.It wasn't until he was walking home that things got a bit strange, however.Somehow by a miracle perhaps, a seeming first-generation mage such as himself had been chosen for one of the most dangerous tests of a mage’s abilities there was: A Holy Grail War.A battle royal between seven mages and their seven servants, servants of incredible power and heroic standing. The last one standing, wins the ultimate prize. The Holy Grail itself.An ATEEZ x ONEUS Crossover AUHeavily inspired by the Fate Stay/Night anime franchiseThis work was reprised from a different fic of mine to fit this fandom, still my original work just different characters.
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Kang Yeosang, Choi San/Song Mingi, Jeong Yunho/Jung Wooyoung, Kim Geonhak | Leedo/Son Dongju | Xion, Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa, Kim Youngjo | Ravn/Yeo Hwanwoong, Lee Keonhee/Lee Seoho
Comments: 14
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I originally wrote this fic for a totally different fandom, got thirteen chapters in out of twenty and then ATEEZ came and took over my life. The fic sat collecting dust for years until I was inspired by the source material once again. I couldn't bring myself to continue writing for a fandom I had fallen out of so instead I decided to reprise it for ATEEZ x ONEUS so hopefully I finish the fic and more people can enjoy it. I just want this story to be like so over the top, magic based anime fun xD with dark angst-y undertones and a lot of emotions. I'm excited and I hope everyone likes it. 
> 
> Note: Yeosang is our main character with Jongho/Yeosang as the main pairing but each pairing also gets their time in the spotlight.

The smooth red marks on the back of his hand glistened in the streetlights above. He had adjusted his groceries in his arms to better look at them as he walked home. The streets were empty at this time of night, so he didn’t feel in any immediately hurry.

The shapes were simple: an almost ‘Y’-like shape with a dot between the forked top, and a line bisecting the base of the shape. All of which made up three complete seals on his right hand—as was to be expected. He still wasn’t exactly sure what the seals did but he knew exactly what they meant.

It had been a relatively normal trip to the grocery store, even if it was almost eleven o’clock at night and his groceries were a bit out of the ordinary.

It wasn’t until he was walking home that things got a bit strange. A searing pain in his hand, a feeling of blood that wasn’t actually there trickling down his fingers, followed by the cool power that all magical seals left behind. But these weren’t just any normal magical seals used to enhance spells; these were special, infinitely more powerful, and meant only one thing.

Somehow, by a miracle perhaps, a seeming first-generation mage such as himself had been chosen for one of the most dangerous tests of a mage’s abilities there was: A Holy Grail War.

He knew what this meant… but he had no idea how, why, or even what to do.

He had no one to turn to.

His parents had no idea about his magecraft studies, and he wasn’t sure how to detect other mages to find a teacher, if anyone would even help him in the first place.

So, he was on his own.

Yeosang unlocked his front door upon coming home and walked inside. He placed a simple cloaking spell over his hand just in case his parents were still awake and started asking questions he hadn’t had time to think of the answers to yet.

Though he was in his last year of college, he still lived with his parents. The Kang family came from a long line of old money and as such lived rather extravagantly. The house was huge so there wasn’t much of a reason for Yeosang—or any of his other family members—to move out. So Yeosang stayed with his parents, his grandmother, and his older sister. He could practically avoid anyone at any given moment with the shear size of the place anyway.

He quietly maneuvered around the dark foyer; it seemed his family had gone to bed.

Lucky.

What he had bought at the grocery store was beyond an explanation really.

Careful not to knock any decorative busts or vases over, Yeosang made his way through the main floor to the scarcely used basement; summoning his familiar as he went. The cat mewled happily at his feet as he carefully descended the stairs.

“Yes, I know, I’m happy to see you too,” Yeosang told the cat; it purred in content as a response.

Once down the stairs, Yeosang quickly made his way to the very back—a rather dark corner that held nothing but a heavy, unused oak bookshelf. Moving it away with a levitation spell he had only recently mastered revealed a room only Yeosang and his cat knew about. A small alcove he had once discovered wholly on accident was the only place he felt confident no one would find and mess with stuff that had the potential to kill them.

His cat bounded into the room and jumped up on his perch almost the second the bookshelf was out of the way.

“Don’t get too comfortable, Leo,” he told the feline, setting his groceries down on the least cluttered work bench. “I need you to surveillance the house until I have a chance to put a barrier and some wards up.”

Leo huffed at him but otherwise listened, hoping off the perch Yeosang had bought for him and leaving the alcove. Yeosang shook his head at his obvious distaste. He couldn’t understand him sometimes, surveillance was his only job besides being a menace to the mains and groundskeepers.

Yeosang moved the bookshelf to cover the doorway again as the cat left, shrouding himself in complete darkness. Conjuring up a screen to see what his familiar saw as it roamed the grounds, Yeosang threw it up on the wall above his worktables so he could easily observe it as he worked. His next task was lighting the various candles that he had placed around the room. The flickering light illuminated the small room, revealing a familiar sight.

The room was on the small side but was big enough to accomplish what Yeosang needed it for. Four folding tables were pushed up against the longest wall, one right after the other to effectively make one long countertop that he could use as a workspace. The surface was cluttered with various ingredients he had collected and potions he’d painstakingly created, a couple books sat scattered with notes written in the margins, and a ton of chalk of various colors for drawing runes made the whole ensemble a dusty mess. Against the wall, furthest from the makeshift door, was another bookshelf, much like the one currently blocking the door, that showcased Yeosang’s collections of books on magecraft.

He didn’t have very many, certainly not as much as he would like, but it was better than nothing. Miraculously, he had found twenty-some odd books in a molding box at a Goodwill he was donating clothes to. Needless to say, he bough them immediately, even if there were hardly enough to fill one shelf. The other two walls of the room were reserved for drawing runes to practice spells, along with the floor, which was just as dusty with chalk as all the tables were.

It really wasn’t much, but it was more than what he had started with five years ago, so he couldn’t complain much.

He still wasn’t sure how he had been chosen for this grand battle royal. He hadn’t gone to the store with the intention of getting chosen and consequently having to summon a servant. He had just wanted to draw a summoning circle, something he read was essential for any mage. To summon his cat familiar, he had drawn a basic summoning circle in chalk, but that one had disappeared after he had finished the spell. The one he would draw now would last for as long as he needed it and could be used to summon a wider variety of creatures.

As far as Yeosang knew, no one in his current family was a mage or had been at one point. But an ancestor of his must have been at some point. His magical circuits had to have come from somewhere and he had a fairly large magical crest. Which, he read, meant a long magical history within his family. Crests were passed down through generations, they held all the magical power and knowledge that every mage before him within his family had ever learned. So, to have such a large one pointed to a long family history with magic. Too bad it seemed he was the only mage to have been born recently to his family and there was no one left to guide him through his studies.

He was on his own for this. Unless he could find a non-hostile mage to help him, which he doubted greatly in the middle of a war.

From what he could piece together from everything he had read, the Holy Grail War consisted of seven mages all fighting against each other to determine who would acquire the Holy Grail itself. Each mage, in order to fight the other, would summon a servant. But not just a normal familiar or other worldly creature, no a heroic spirit would have to be summoned. A hero from myth or reality; past, present, or future, brought to each mage to fight against all the others. There were seven different classes of servant as well from what Yeosang gathered; though, he had no idea what those were. The book only mentioned the war as it talked about the art of summoning spirits and other things. He hoped the servant he summoned would be able to tell him more about it… if he was able to summon one at all, that was…

Something he did know, however, was that if he were able to win the entire battle, destroy all the other servants, and have his be the last one standing; he and his servant would each get one wish. The Holy Grail was a wish-granting device. He had no idea what his would be… but he supposed he had time to figure all that out.

First thing was first, though, he needed to summon a servant.

The longer he went without one, the more in danger he was. Who knew what the other mages were already doing by this point?

Through the brief section on heroic spirits in his book on summoning, Yeosang knew he needed a sort of catalyst to help him summon a spirit. Heroic spirits were the highest power familiar a mage could ever summon, which meant they were incredibly difficult to pull from the void without some sort of artifact connecting the mage to the hero. Yeosang really didn’t have anything other than a fossilized horn that was in the box with all his recently bought spell books. He figured worst case scenario, he failed to summon anything with the horn and would have to go “borrow” an artifact from the museum he walked by every day on his way to school.

Getting down to business, Yeosang took everything he bought out of the brown paper bag he carried in. Six candles, one to go at every point of the star, and a tub of chicken blood he had paid off the butcher at the store to get. It was easy enough to erase the man’s memory afterward, which wasn’t really necessary, but it made Yeosang feel less embarrassed about the whole ordeal.

Carefully following the picture detailed in the book, Yeosang drew the hexagram on the floor with the blood of many an innocent chicken. It was supposed to be fresh, but Yeosang couldn’t bring himself to slaughter chickens in his basement so he figured the blood from a butcher shop would just have to do.

When he finished, the star looked really awful; he never had been good at drawing. He was pretty sure his mother only hung his drawings on the fridge when he was younger because that was what was expected and not out of any sort of real talent. But the poor drawing abilities didn’t matter as long as it resembled what it was supposed to be; after he passed magical energy through the blood, it would solidify into an actual seal.

The candles came next, one at each point of the very lopsided star. Observing his work, Yeosang huffed in disappointment. It looked like a toddler finger painted the star on the ground after murdering a bunch of chickens. At least it wasn’t going to be this way for much longer, he hoped he never had to draw one of these again… especially in a place where another, more talented mage could see it. He’d never live down the embarrassment and no amount of memory erasing spells would ease that burden.

Wiping his hands of all the blood, he flipped the page to the incantation he would need to summon his heroic spirit. He placed the fossilized horn amidst all the blood and stood at on of the points of the star. Taking a deep breath and one last look at the spell to make sure he had it memorized, Yeosang rolled his sleeves up to reveal as much of his magic crest as possible. The slender blue lines were barely visible to the untrained eye but still covered the entirety of Yeosang’s right arm and most of his torso. One last deep breath and he extended his arm in front of him, placed his left hand on his right bicep, and concentrated.

“For the elements, silver and iron, the foundations stone,

And the archduke of pacts.”

He started. Instantly, he felt the magical energy easily flow through his crest, causing a tingling through his entire body. The blue lines glowed bright against his pale skin as he continued the incantations.

“And for my great master, Kang, raise a wall against the wind,

And close the gate of four directions.”

Nothing happened for the first two lines but by the third line, the blood on the floor erupted in a purplish-red light.

“Come forth from the crown,

And follow the forked road leading to the kingdom.”

The messily drawn lines solidified slowly into a fully formed hexagram. The runes burned themselves into the stone flooring as Yeosang continued through the sixth line.

By the seventh line, the horn in the middle of the now perfect hexagram cracked down the center, emitting a strong wind that blew Yeosang’s hair out of his face and clothes against his front.

“Heed my words,

My will creates your body,

And your sword creates my destiny.”

Yeosang’s voice grew louder with the end of the verse in order to hear himself over the wind that was growing stronger with every uttered word.

“If you heed the Grail’s call,

And obey my will and reason,

Then answer my summoning!”

The light grew brighter around him. He was very glad he had put the bookshelf back and that he was in the basement. Had his workshop been anywhere else, everyone in the household would have awoken by now.

“I hereby swear,

That I shall be all the good in the world,

That I, Kang Yeosang, shall defeat all evil in the world!”

From the horn, a blinding white light started to grow and expand. His voice cracked from the strain the magic was started to put on his body. But he had to keep going, if he stopped now he might not be able to do something like this again.

“Seventh heaven clad,

And the great words of power,

Come forth from the circle of bindings,

Guardian of the Scales!”

He finished the incantation and pure, white light enveloped the entire room. Yeosang couldn’t see anything, felt a searing pain go through his entire body. It was all he could do to stay in place and continue to pass magical energy through his crest for the spell to complete itself. He hoped this worked because he wouldn’t be able to do it again. The strain was too great, he felt as if his insides wanted to become his outsides.

When the light finally faded, Yeosang collapsed to the ground, catching himself on his hands and knees. The spell was complete, and he had succeeded.

The horn he used for the ritual sat in pieces on the ground, a grey fog settled around the entire room that Yeosang suspected was all the chalk that had dusted everything. A figure, clad in all black, stood in the center of the circle.

The newly summoned servant wore almost skin-tight armor, detailed with silver highlights. A cap was slung over his left shoulder and around his back, hiding only his left arm from sight. His right arm had no sleeve, exposing toned muscles. Tight black pants adorned the servant’s legs, along with black leather boots that came almost up to his knees. A hood hid his face from view; Yeosang could see nothing but a black expanse where his face should be. Bright silver chains hung from his belt in long loops attached to a nasty looking knife that seemed to glow a dull red in the dim lighting. The servant held a large lance in his right hand, tipped with two spikes: a bident that glowed the same way the knife did.

Yeosang could hardly believe it… he had actually succeeded… and from what he could sense about the energy emitting from his servant, it was extremely powerful.

“My, it had been a long time since I’ve set foot on this plain of existence,” the servant said in a deep voice. It looked around the room for a moment before focusing its attention on Yeosang. “Are you the one who summonsed me?”

“Yeosang couldn’t find his voice, so he only nodded; still incredibly stunned by this feat he had accomplished.

“Well then, I am Hades, God of the Underworld, servant class: Lancer, at your service.” The servant took a dramatic bow. “But in this realm, you may call me Jongho.”


	2. Chapter 2

How long are you planning on sleeping, Master?” A voice asked as Yeosang was slowly coming into consciousness. The voice was unfamiliar to him and yet, he still felt a connection to it. Opening his eyes carefully, Yeosang was met with the face of a stranger leaning over him, bent over his bed while he laid there. How did he get here? Wasn’t he in his workshop earlier? Who was this man?

“Who… Who are you? What happened?” Yeosang asked, trying hard not to let his panic show. He was in his room, as far as he could tell, but he couldn’t, for the life of him, remember how he got there.

“Tch, I’m not surprised you don’t remember. You used entirely too much magical energy to summon me. You could have died if you were any lesser of a mage.”

The man stopped hovering over him and moved to sit in a chair that had been moved to the side of Yeosang’s bed. Crossing his legs casually, the man regarded him silently, as if waiting for Yeosang’s response.

Suddenly, the events of what he assumed were last night came back to him. He’d been chosen for some sort of battle to the death and had summoned an actual heroic spirit to help him win. He still hadn’t the slightest idea how he got up in his room, but he had a feeling his incredibly attractive servant had something to do with that. The man was watching him very closely, gauging his reaction.

“So, you do remember,” the servant said, as if reading Yeosang’s thoughts. “Good, I don’t think I could stay with a braindead master.”

“Yeah, I remember,” Yeosang started. “I summoned you last night.”

“And then you collapsed from the exertion almost the second after I finished introducing myself. I carried you up here afterward… I hope this is your room.”

Yeosang sat up slowly in his bed, regarding his servant carefully. He wore a simple black T-shirt and bleached, ripped skinny jeans. It was so different from what he wore last night, especially since he could see the man’s face now. Sharp jawline, large brown eyes, styled ebony black hair swooped to the left out of his eyes; handsome was the first word that came to mind.

“Yeah this is it… thanks.”

“I hope you don’t mind, I borrowed some of your clothes,” the servant said, picking at the shirt nonchalantly. “Not much fit; though, you’re too thin.”

“I’m sorry?” Yeosang cleared his throat uncomfortably. He wasn’t sure what else to say in response to that.

“No matter, we can fix that later,” the servant said, turning his attention back to his master. “What should I call you? You passed out before I could get a name.”

“Yeosang…” He spoke. “You can call me Yeosang.”

“Nice to officially meet you, then, Master. In case you don’t remember, I’m Hades: God of the Underworld and all that. But for convenience, please call me Jongho.”

“Why that name?” Yeosang asked, rubbing his pounding head. He hadn’t woken up with a headache; he guessed the side effects to summoning a heroic spirit were starting to catch back up to him now that he was awake again. He felt completely drained, even though his clock told him he’d slept for a good twelve hours. It was a good thing his first class for today started at one o’clock.

“Because I like the name and I would stick out like a sore thumb if you introduced me as Hades.”

“You make a good point,” Yeosang agreed, feeling stupid for even asking. That made sense after all; he should have been able to piece that together at the least.

“Well, enough small talk… What’s the plan to win this thing, Master?” Jongho asked, uncrossing his legs, and leaning forward to hear whatever he thought Yeosang had to say. He didn’t know how to break it to him… Yeosang had no idea what he was doing; he was hoping Jongho could first answer a couple of his millions of questions. But his servant looked so expectant… Yeosang felt reluctant to even bring up the fact he was inexperienced. Jongho had just immediately assumed he was some master at magecraft when, in actuality, that was as far from the truth as it could be.

“I don’t…” Yeosang cleared his throat again, suddenly feeling very nervous. “I don’t have a plan…”

Jongho didn’t say anything, he only looked slightly confused as he waited for Yeosang to say more.

“I was hoping you’d be able to explain some things to me first,” he finally got out. Jongho leaned back again in his seat. Yeosang searched his servant’s face for any sort of disappointment or frustration, but he found none. Only confusion and a bit of worry.

“Oh I see… You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into, do you?” Jongho asked, sighing deeply.

“I didn’t do this to myself, you know, these symbols just appeared on my hand last night. I didn’t have much of a choice in this matter,” Yeosang defended. It’s not like he actually wanted to participate in this battle. If it were up to him, he’d keep his magical abilities on the down low for his entire life.

“Really now? How interesting…” Jongho mused for a second.

“What is?”

“If you were specifically chosen to participate in a Holy Grail War… I believe that means you’re the head of a long lineage of mages.”

“Come again?” That didn’t sound right.

“Take your shirt off.”

“Excuse me?”

“Just do it,” Jongho rolled his eyes. “Be mature here. I’m eons old and you’re not a child.”

“I don’t see what this has to do with anything,” Yeosang complained, but complied with what Jongho asked of him.

“You really are quite thin…” Jongho mused again, shaking his head once Yeosang’s shirt was off. “But that’s besides the point.”

“What is the point, then?” Yeosang hissed out, feeling entirely too exposed in front of someone he legitimately just met.

“Do you see all these lines?” Jongho gestured to the slender blue lines creating thousands of intricate patters on Yeosang’s skin. They started at his right wrist and traveled all the way up his arm to cover the entirety of the right side of his torso, going as far as disappearing below the waistband of the sweatpants Yeosang wore.

“You mean my family’s magic crest?”

“So you do know some things,” Jongho agreed. “This is probably the largest one I have seen in my many years of existence. It could probably even rival Hecate’s, you know, the Goddess of Magic?”

“Yes, I know who she is.”

“Oh good, she’d be happy to hear that.” Jongho seemed to lose himself in thought for a second, probably thinking about what the Goddess’ reaction would be. “Anyway! Such a large magic crest suggests generations upon generations of mages leaving their mark upon this crest. Every spell your ancestors have learned is literally at your fingertips. You don’t even have to have practiced the spell to use it, it’s all there. And from the size of this thing… your family’s magical history stretches centuries.”

Yeosang looked down at the patterns etched into his skin in a new light. He knew all that already, but having another person affirm that made it seem real for the first time.

“Whether you know it or not, Master, you’re a pretty powerful mage, albeit an inexperienced one.”

“Oh…” Yeosang slipped his shirt back on and swung his legs to sit at the edge of his bed, facing Jongho. “What did you mean earlier when you said I used too much magical energy to summon you?”

“You are aware of how mages cast spells, aren’t you?”

He thought about that question for a second. How did he cast spells? Usually, Yeosang hardly ever had to think about it. He would just imagine what he wanted to happen and usually it happened; if it didn’t, he’d think about it just a little harder. He wasn’t sure if that was the answer Jongho wanted to hear.

“I hardly have to think about it.”

Jongho let out an exasperated sigh. “If I was a mage, I’d be furious with you.”

“What did I do?!”

“Nothing, the fact that you’ve never had to worry about your mana before speaks volumes.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, like in video games that have magic based characters?”

“Yeah?”

“They always have a little bar that limits how many spells you can use at one continuous time. And as you level your character up, the larger the bar gets and the more powerful spells you can then cast.”

“So, you’re saying that real life mages have to worry about that too?”

“Usually, but apparently your bar started off so gods damn large, you hardly have ever had to worry about overextending your limits. Except when it came to summoning me last night, it seems.”

“What would have happened… had I used all of my mana?” Yeosang wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know the answer to that.

“You would have literally ripped the fibers that give you your abilities from your body… not a lot of mages survive that,” Jongho told him gently. So that’s why he felt like he was being ripped apart from the inside out towards the end of the spell last night. He’d have to be more careful from now on, it seemed.

Yeosang said nothing in response, letting Jongho continue to explain.

“Being your servant, I can sense how much magical energy you have. That’s why I automatically assumed you were an experienced mage earlier, since you have such a large amount to draw upon. It’s practically endless,” Jongho continued. “I should have no problem maintaining my physical form or using any of my abilities with your mana stores, so I wouldn’t worry too much about draining yourself. You’ll know when that starts to happen… if you cast a spell and start to feel extreme pain, for instance.”

“What do you mean: maintain physical form?” Yeosang asked. He felt rather silly asking all these questions, but he needed to know everything if he were going to win this war. The first step to developing a strategy, was to know all your strengths, weaknesses, and assets.

“Like any familiar, like that cat you have surveilling the house, I need your magical energy to manifest in this realm. To fight, to wear my enchanted armor, or use an ultimate attack, you must supply the energy for me to do so. Without you, I disappear so you’re not allowed to die.”

“I’ll try my best,” Yeosang said with an eyeroll. “But isn’t your job to stop that from happening?”

“Yes, as long as you allow me to act freely.”

“Are you saying you can’t normally?”

“Kind of. Those symbols, as you called them, on your hand are what make you a master in this war. They’re called command seals and are what tie me to you. You can use them to boost my attack power or force me to do something I refuse to. But there are only three of them, and once they’re gone…”

“You’re gone.”

“Exactly, now you’re catching on. I could act on my own regardless of what you say and, if you don’t use a command seal, I can continue to do so. But I’d prefer to work with my Master rather than against him. Works out better for the both of us.”

Yeosang was starting to feel more confident about his chances. With Jongho willing to explain everything to him in ways he couldn’t understand, it made him feel less useless.

“Alright… So, I remember you saying you’re a Lancer class servant?”

“That’s correct.”

“And there are seven classes of warriors, right?”

Jongho nodded, patiently waiting for the barrage of questions about to come his way.

“What are the others and what does that all mean?”

“That’s a good question for strategy,” Jongho thought over the question for a second. “As well as a question that has a rather long answer.”

“It’s important that I know.”

“Yes, I understand. Let’s start with me then.” Jongho decided, “As you could probably put together, the Lancer class means I use a lance as my primary weapon. In my specific case, as befits Hades, I use a bident. Like a trident but with two prongs instead of three.”

“I know what a bident is.”

“Just being thorough,” Jongho put his hands up in defense before continuing. “The Lancer class is among the three strongest classes, so you drew a good card.”

“Don’t flatter yourself.”

“Okay, okay, but its just the truth,” Jongho defended again. “The strongest servant is the Saber class. Which, obviously, means they use some sort of sword as their primary weapon. They’re especially strong against Lancers unfortunately, but weak against the Archer class… Speaking of which.”

“The Archer class uses bows, right?”

“Or any sort of projectile really. Makes sense, right?”

“What about the other four classes?”

“Well, there’s the Rider class, which comes with a specialized mount, like a horse or a chariot.” Jongho continued. “The Assassin class, which specializes in stealth and sneak attacks. The Caster class, which is practically just another mage summoned to fight with an extra talent for magic. And finally, the Berserker class… they don’t really have a specialty but once you get them fighting it’s next to impossible for them to stop until either they’re dead or their opponent is dead.”

“Sounds like a problem.”

“You’re telling me,” Jongho scoffed. “Though, I’m confident we can win… so now you know exactly what’s going on… got any ideas.”

Yeosang laughed shortly. He hardly had enough details to formulate any sort of plan, especially with so many other mages out there. Forming a strategy would be next to impossible with so many confounding variables; too much uncertainty surrounded this entire ordeal.

“The first step would obviously be finding the other masters and identifying their servants. I can sense them… but that opens another problem, other mages can sense you, can’t they?”

Jongho let out a laugh of his own.

“Don’t you know who you’re talking to? Obviously not. Thanks to my Helm of Darkness, I’m invisible to everything but my own Master. Undetectable by anything, even the most powerful seeking spell. The horn you used to summon me was part of my helm when I was still relevant to human culture.”

“Well, that’s good to know…” Yeosang thought for a second. “So, if a mage were to see you as is…?”

“They’d think I was a normal human. Even in my servant form, they wouldn’t be able to tell me from a regular human or analyze how strong I am.”

“And would you be able to detect a servant? Even if they were ‘invisible’?”

“Yes, as can every servant.”

“Well then, Jongho, why don’t we go do some scouting.”

~*~

_“You know, when you said: ‘do some scouting’ this morning, I didn’t think that you actually meant go to school and then to work,”_ Jongho complained. Yeosang only heard his servant’s voice inside his head, but he could practically feel the discontent pouring off the man from wherever he was in the building. Their day was uneventful to say the least, without considering the fact that Yeosang had the God of the Underworld following him around all day. There weren’t any other mages in any of his two lectures today and now, at his night job as a student librarian, nothing was going on here either.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t know we weren’t going to find anything,” Yeosang defended.

_“Why is your life so boring?”_ Jongho complained, sounding whinier by the second. The servant had wanted to roam around the three-floored library unseen while Yeosang worked till midnight when the building closed. _“Why are you even working? I’ve been inside your house; I know you have a ton of money.”_

“I’d like to earn my own money and not have to rely on my parents,” Yeosang said aloud to an empty room, swirling his coffee cup equally as bored as his servant. It wasn’t exactly the truth… but it wasn’t an outright lie either. He really didn’t want to go into detail about his personal life right now.

Hardly anyone ever came in after nine o’clock, preferring their own dorm rooms or apartments to the library at late hours. The only other people present were in the small coffee bar in the corner of the building, closing shop for the night. Yeosang was their only customer this late at night and his shift was almost over, no reason to stay open any longer. He really wasn’t worried about any of them overhearing him talk to ‘himself’ out loud. They were far enough away and Yeosang wasn’t exactly loud.

“And my life isn’t boring, it’s normal.”

_“Well then normal is boring,”_ Jongho scoffed. _“We didn’t even run into any mages today.”_

“Oh darn, we didn’t have to fight anyone,” Yeosang rolled his eyes even though he knew his servant couldn’t’ see, wherever he was in the library.

_“At least it would’ve been more interesting than this.”_

“Would you stop being such a drama queen? This place closes in literally ten minutes and then we can go home.”

_“Thank the gods”_

“You literally just thanked yourself.”

_“Your point?”_

Yeosang sighed, throwing away the paper cup that held his life source for the past few hours.

“Come on, there’s not much of a reason for us to be here. There’s no one here, no one will care if I leave ten minutes early.”

“ _Finally, you’re starting to look exhausted.”_

“Gee, I wonder why.”

_“Probably because its almost midnight.”_

“I was being sarcastic.”

Jongho laughed as Yeosang felt his servant return to his side; still invisible but there all the same.

_“I know, it’s just fun to mess with you.”_

“Whatever. Just stay hidden. It’d look suspicious if someone outside my family followed me home so late at night.”

_“Or just promiscuous.”_

Yeosang didn’t even have to see his servant to know how suggestive he was being.

“Stop that.”

_“What?! It’s a valid point.”_

“I’m sure that’s the first thing other masters would think,” Yeosang said, turning the lights to motion sensor so they’d turn off when the last person left and shut down the computer grids as well.

_“You never know.”_

“Just stay hidden,” Yeosang asserted, beginning to leave the building.

_“Whatever you say… Just remember, it’s dark and there’s hardly anyone around anymore. Prime time for someone to attack…”_

“I’m well aware of that…”

_“You can’t die.”_

“You’ll just have to protect me then.”

Jongho laughed, sending a pleasant vibration through Yeosang’s head.

_“What else am I here for?”_

“Hell if I know.”

Exiting the library into the cold November air, Yeosang began the long walk back to his house. It was quiet, especially since Jongho was content to just enjoy the night air and keep his mouth shut for the first time that day. Hardly anyone was outside; reasonable since it was practically midnight.

The air was cold, but not unpleasantly so; a rare warm front had blown in lately so walking home wasn’t a problem yet. The sky was clear; a thousand twinkling lights illuminating his path along with the occasional flickering streetlight. A light fog was beginning to form along the sidewalk, blowing off from the grass and spreading to cover the entire ground. These were Yeosang’s favorite nights to walk home.

It was so peaceful. If he didn’t think about anything else besides how fresh the air smelled, he could forget about whatever dangers might be awaiting him in this ridiculous war. It was relaxing; it made him infinitely less anxious.

_“Master, I really hate to interrupt your peace.”_ His servant’s voice sounded different than the normal playful tone.

“What is it?” Yeosang asked quietly, sensing the warning in Jongho’s voice.

_“Something approaches… up ahead.”_

Yeosang looked where Jongho had said. It was dark and the streetlights were long past due for a change, so he couldn’t see anything more than a figure shrouded in shadows. But Jongho had been correct, there was something approaching them.

“Stay hidden,” Yeosang ordered, continuing to walk forward. Maybe it was nothing… he didn’t want to jump into battle if nothing was there.

_“Are you crazy?!”_

“Just do it. It could be nothing.”

_“Yeah, but it could also be a servant bent on destroying what they think is a master without a servant!”_

Yeosang ignored Jongho; the person was close enough for Yeosang to make out now. He wasn’t particularly tall, or broad but he definitely stuck out.

He wore a dark magenta colored cloak, hiding most of his body and masking his face from view. Much like the way Jongho had been wearing his hood the first time he was summoned, Yeosang couldn’t make out a face.

_“It’s a servant, Master, you can’t take it on by yourself.”_

“Just do as I say, we’re going to see what it wants first,” Yeosang decided, halting in place as the unknown servant did the same.

_“You’re insane!”_

Yeosang paid no mind to his complaining servant. He knew what he was doing. The opposing servant couldn’t tell that Yeosang had one of his own, so a sneak attack would be more effective.

Putting his hands in his pockets, Yeosang waited for the servant to say something. A mocking laugh echoed around the small side street.

“I thought it was ridiculous when my Master told me there was a mage walking around that hadn’t summoned a servant yet, but here you stand.” The servant called to him across the distance they still stood apart. It was clear by how much distance the servant stood away that a fight was what it had come for. He continued laughing; if anything, it rose in volume. “How pathetic.”

“And who exactly are you?” Yeosang called back.

“Does it matter? You’ll be dead soon anyway and my Master can pry three more command seals from your corpse.”

Yeosang could feel Jongho’s impatience at the other servant’s blatant intentions.

_“Master, he’s going to kill you. From what I can tell, that’s Caster. The servant with an affinity for magic,”_ he told him.

“I can handle this, stay,” Yeosang commanded one last time, starting to feel like he was talking to a dog. “I’d like to know who would do such a thing… From the looks of it, your Master was too scared to show up here himself. I don’t even have a servant and yet he sends his to deal with me?” He taunted.

“How dare you speak to me about my Master in such a way!” Caster hissed, throwing his right arm out to the side. Instantly, four magic circles appeared, hovering behind the servant and ready to attack when he gave the command. The swirling mess of magic that each seal contained glowed a bright purple in the dark night. “How dare you speak to me, Hamlet, heir to the throne of Denmark, servant of Caster, in that sort of tone. I will kill you where you stand!”

Hamlet, as he had named himself, swung his extended arm forward, pointing towards Yeosang and sending blistering hot flames billowing from the seals he had summoned. And yet still, Yeosang did not allow Jongho to manifest. Despite the eminent doom coming his way in the form of absolute hellfire, he wasn’t about to let some Shakespearean tragic hero brush him off so easily.

The flames approached fast, faster than Yeosang had time to breathe, had time to even recognize how stupid this plan was. But he knew what he was doing and if he couldn’t pull it off, Jongho would step in. Passing energy through his magic crest, he knew the spell he needed was there. He had no idea what it was, but it was there somewhere. His arm erupted in blue light as his crest lit up, extending his arm in front of him, ready to cast. Right at his fingertips, a white light exploded quicker than the flames could come at him. The pure white magic expanded fast, creating a wall that stretched to the buildings on either side of him and just as high, blocking the entire street, protecting him from flames that would have otherwise killed him instantly.

When the flames hit his wall, he felt the strain on his body to keep the protective spell up. But he couldn’t drop it now; he needed to make a statement to this servant that he wasn’t so easily discarded; so instead, he pushed more energy into the shield. Sending the flames towards the sky as they hit the white barrier, Yeosang could feel Jongho’s surprise… he himself was equally as surprised by what he was doing… but he couldn’t do it much longer. Just when he thought he couldn’t hold on any longer, the flames stopped just as quickly as they had come.

It took everything Yeosang had to stay upright and look unaffected by what he just did, holding the shield up just long enough for the opposing servant to see it before dropping it and no longer feeling the strain on his body.

“You’re still alive?” Hamlet said, sounding slightly impressed. “It seems my Master and I have grossly underestimated you. A mistake that won’t be made again.”

Yeosang watched as the servant jumped into the air, effortlessly gliding upward to have the height advantage over him. His cloak billowed outward, appearing like large leathery wings behind him as he hovered high above the ground.

“I won’t hold back anything, anymore,” the servant declared, one large purple circle appearing behind him. Yeosang knew whatever would come from that mess of magic he could not block; it was all he could do to stay standing upright; he’d have to let Jongho fight. “I’ll see you in Hell, servant-less mage.”

Magenta tendrils of magic erupted from the seal behind the flying servant, magic that had no other purpose but to hit Yeosang with brute force. Yeosang waited, watching the magic swirl towards him at breakneck speed. He couldn’t do anything more to block it… but it seemed he wouldn’t have to.

The magic stopped half a second before it would have collided with Yeosang. Hovering dangerously close to his face was one singular tendril, powerful enough to kill him and yet it did nothing.

The servant sighed deeply as Yeosang sensed the presence of presumably Caster’s Master. A figure stood down the street a little way, watching the battle, looking eerily familiar to Yeosang yet unrecognizable all the same.

“We’ll have to continue this later, my Master calls. I won’t forget this insult, however, remember that. Have a nice night, servant-less mage.” The servant began to disappear, turning to thousands of tiny purple specks before his eyes.

And with that, he was gone, blown away like dust in the wind along with the unknown Master down the road.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! All comments appreciated! 
> 
> Follow me on Twitter! @AAvery151 for updates on what's happening with all my stories <3


	3. Chapter 3

“What the hell were you thinking?!” Jongho berated as soon as they were sure both threats had gone. Yeosang had collapsed to the ground, catching himself on his hands and knees, coughing up a good amount of blood as he did so. He knew he hadn’t overextended himself, not like he had the night he summoned Jongho, yet he felt just as drained and, on top of that, was coughing his guts up.

“I…” Yeosang started to say but cut himself off with another drawn out coughing fit. He felt Jongho materialize behind him, placing a comforting hand on his back and waiting for him to stop coughing. “I didn’t want to show the enemy my hand just yet,” he finally got out, sitting up on his knees to look at his servant. Jongho sat similarly across from him, still dressed in casual clothes to blend in with everyone else. “If they think I don’t have a servant, they’d be caught off guard when they find I actually do, making it easier to defeat, or at least seriously injure them.”

Jongho sighed.

“I understand your reasoning but that won’t be necessary, you idiot! You can’t die! If I die, I just go back to the Underworld waiting to be summoned again for another war. But if you die, that’s it! You’re not coming back!”

“I know that,” Yeosang said. “But I knew I could handle it. If I’m not mistaken, the only reason that servant was sent here was to test my abilities. The servant, itself, wanted to kill me, but his master stopped him.”

“What if that master hadn’t stopped Caster?” Jongho asked, sounding much more worried than Yeosang expected. He guessed the god of the dead was a little sensitive when it came to people dying.

“We can sit here and play the ‘what if’ game all night but that’s not going to change what happened.”

“Fine, fine.” Jongho rubbed Yeosang’s shoulder, seeming to comfort himself more than Yeosang at the moment. “I just hate to see needless death, especially when I could do something about it. Just promise to let me know your plan next time, so I’m not just sitting idly by while you die. You can speak to me through telepathy too, you know.”

“Yeah, I know.” Yeosang spit out some blood that he hadn’t gotten out of his mouth earlier. “And I promise I’ll let you know what I’m doing, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to like it.”

“I’d expect nothing less from someone like you,” Jongho said with a laugh, letting his hand relax and slip down Yeosang’s arm. But the gentle touch froze suddenly as Jongho seemed to have sensed something potentially dangerous.

Yeosang felt it too, the slight tingling through his entire body; like the fibers that gave him his abilities were reacting to the other’s nearby.

“Can you walk?” Jongho whispered, sounding more urgent with every word.

Yeosang shook his head instead of answering, feeling a little helpless.

Jongho maneuvered around Yeosang, slinging one of his arms around his shoulder and hoisting him up. Carefully, Yeosang pushed himself up as best as he could, leaning heavily on Jongho for support.

“Let’s just get out of here,” Jongho said. “You’re in no position to fight and I’d rather not have you lying on the ground helpless while we’re being attacked.”

“Good plan,” Yeosang agreed, walking as much as he could with how weak his legs felt just to alleviate some of the burden on Jongho.

The aura they could both detect was different than the first pair of master and servant they had just met. The servant was a lot stronger than the other as well, not as strong as Yeosang could tell Jongho was, but still a threat they shouldn’t deal with quite yet, definitely not in the condition Yeosang was in. The unknown pair didn’t move closer, however, just seemed to be watching from a distance. All they would see was a “regular human” helping a mage that was just attacked back to his house. If they saw the previous battle, they would know to keep their distance from Yeosang so neither of them was very worried about an attack. But it was probably better to get out of there just in case the pair decided to attack anyway.

When they were far enough away that Yeosang could barely sense the possible enemy’s magical energy, he felt safe enough to start talking again.

“Why am I like this?” Yeosang asked, just beginning to find the strength to attempt walking without Jongho’s aid.

“What? You mean exhausted even though you didn’t overextend your mana reserves?” Jongho asked, laughing slightly when Yeosang nodded in agreement. “You really are super inexperienced.”

“Yeah, I get it. It’s not my fault I never had a teacher.”

“Which is weird since you had to have gotten that crest from somewhere. You’re not born with it, someone in your family had to have given it to you,” Jongho mused.

“I know that, I just don’t know who.”

“That’s a question for a later date, I suppose. The reason you feel the way you do, and are coughing up all your insides, is because you woke up a whole bunch of dormant magical circuits.”

“Magical circuits?” Yeosang knew what they were and how they were used, he was just confused how they had anything to do with what he was currently going through.

“The fibers within your body that give you your power. They act kind of like circuits in any sort of machine, powering your abilities. My guess is that you’ve never used most of them, except for the most basic of them, so they all ‘went to sleep’ so to speak. With that spell, even though it hardly made a dent in your mana, you woke up basically the rest of your circuits throughout your entire body.”

“Why does it hurt so much?”

“It’s kind of like getting struck by lightning without all the possible brain and heart damage. Everything had energy passed through it at once and with no warning, it overloaded your body. Usually, a mage slowly forms their circuits over time. You woke them all up at once.”

“Whoops.”

“Yeah, whoops. You should be fine tomorrow, though, and something like this shouldn’t happen again regardless of how powerful a spell you use next. You should have an easier time casting any sort of spell from now on, too.”

“I see,” Yeosang said absentmindedly. If he was able to deflect the Caster servant’s first spell as if it were basically nothing and all that was stopping him from continuing to fight was more circuits being made readily available, then there was no saying what he would be able to accomplish the next time he was attacked. He had a feeling he would have no problem against weaker servant classes, even without having Jongho fight for him. It was beginning to look like he and Jongho would make a pretty hard team to beat… Yeosang just needed to learn actual spells to cast instead of just hoping to find one in his magic crest. “Do you know who Hamlet is?”

“I do, though he was well after my time of existence,” Jongho agreed. “Servants are given knowledge of modern day when they are summoned so that they fit better into the society they’re summoned in.”

“Do you think he’d be dangerous? I don’t remember the character in Shakespeare’s play having any sort of magical abilities,” Yeosang asked, untangling himself from Jongho. He didn’t need any help walking anymore, his strength coming back quicker than he had been expecting.

“It depends, he’s been summoned as a Caster which I suppose makes since. Writers of great renown and characters from their stories tend to be summoned as Casters. Shakespeare himself would probably be summoned as a Caster if the master has the appropriate catalyst. But if I had to take a guess, based off the play, Hamlet would probably have all sorts of mind-altering abilities. Making his opponent see exactly what he wants them to see. It’s possible he could literally drive someone insane even.”

“Oh… that’s really not good.”

“Yeah, but there would be practically no other way for a servant like him to win otherwise.”

“Could you defeat him?”

“As long as I’m able to fend off his hallucination magic.”

“We’ll have to be careful when dealing with him, then.”

“We’ll have to be careful when dealing with all the servants. Without knowing their true identities, there’s no telling what they’d all be capable of. The only one you can truly trust is me.”

“Coming from Hades, widely considered the most untrustworthy god in Greek mythos,” Yeosang joked.

“Excuse me?” Jongho asked, disbelieving. “Oh, I see, you mortals only remember what my siblings let you know.” He answered his own question with an eyeroll. Yeosang wondered briefly, and a bit too late, if Jongho had actually taken his joke seriously. The spirit sighed deeply, seeming to calm his growing anger instantaneously.

“I can’t say I’m surprised. My brother was especially talented in making sure only what he wanted you mortals to know is what you heard.” Yeosang didn’t even have to look to sense the barely contained anger. He guessed he’d opened old wounds.

“I’m not always the bad guy, it’s just the way the stories were twisted.”

“I was only joking.”

“Yes, I’m aware,” Jongho sighed again. Yeosang made a mental note not to bring up Greek mythology tropes ever again. “Let’s just get you home before you collapse again.”

~*~

Jongho was right about being perfectly fine the next day. Yeosang awoke feeling especially energized; though, he wasn’t entirely positive it wasn’t just sleeping for thirteen hours that did it. He never had classes on Thursdays; his only task for the day was working on homework and his shift at the library which started a little earlier than normal.

Yeosang needed to find something, anything, to help him learn how to best utilize his abilities. He only ended up finding what he assumed to be regular people playing at magic or just simple parlor tricks with cards. It was wholly unhelpful and a huge waste of time, but he didn’t exactly have very many options.

Jongho tried to help, but, as he stated on numerous occasions, he wasn’t a mage.

“So, you’ve never learned a legit spell?” Jongho had asked as Yeosang lorded over his small collection of spell books in his basement workshop. He wasn’t in the room with Yeosang, instead he was probably sitting somewhere high up in order to survey the house and its yard better. Jongho was a better lookout than his cat could ever be since he could actually do something about the intruders instead of just hissing at them.

“No, I know a few, there were a couple in these books,” Yeosang said, closing one book and opening the next one, hoping to find something on offensive/defensive magic instead of just basic spells. “But I’ve never actually needed to fight with magic before.”

“Most mages never have to, unless that’s specifically your job or you’re just an asshole,” Jongho agreed. “But you’ll have to be careful when fighting with magic. It’s unpredictable.”

Yeosang didn’t say anything, only waited for Jongho to continue. He had learned that his servant really liked to talk and trying to get him to stop only ended with him talking more.

“Mages are tricky and super annoying to fight. They never fight fair, always using tricks and deception to further their usually selfish goals…” Jongho ranted on. Yeosang cleared his throat exaggeratedly; Jongho did know he was talking to a mage, right?

“Well, I mean… You did go against that servant last night just to prove a point, didn’t you? So, you’re just as bad, just slightly less manipulative. You’ve got a kinder heart than most mages.”

“And you know this because?”

“Dude, you literally brought the spirit of your dead cat back to life to serve as a familiar. If that doesn’t scream ‘softie’, I don’t know what does. Plus, I know people. Unlike most of my siblings, I had to deal with mortals all the time. I know how humans work,” Jongho explained.

“Alright, you’ve made your point,” Yeosang grumbled, slamming his book closed with finality. He wasn’t going to find anything. He’d just have to continue winging it and hope for the best. It’s a good thing he and his ancestors seemed to have had the same imagination when it came to making spells. “How’d you know about the cat anyway?”

“Are you serious?” Jongho laughed. “I’m the god of the dead.”

“Right, stupid question.” Yeosang stood up from his desk, placing the books he had taken down back on their shelves before leaving his workshop; his cat followed along after him. Jongho wasn’t wrong; the spell he had used to summon his cat familiar was one that reanimated an undead spirit. Yeosang really didn’t have much else to use, so he brought back his cat that had died earlier in the year. Without the materials to summon any other type of familiar, the spirit type would just have to work for now. “Are you dressed in street clothes?” He asked his servant, moving the bookshelf to hide his space once again.

“Yeah, are we leaving?”

“Yeah, I’ve got to go to work.”

Jongho immediately groaned.

“You have to go again? I’m going to die of boredom!”

“That’s how jobs work,” Yeosang said with an eyeroll. “You can stay in physical form if that makes it better…”

“Would it look weird?” Jongho asked, materializing behind him as Yeosang emerged from the basement and on to the main floor.

“You’d look like another student worker, or a friend of mine who stopped by to visit.”

“Would you buy me one of those concoctions you were drinking last night?”

“You mean coffee?” Yeosang asked, grabbing his bag, and making sure he had his wallet before leaving.

“Yes that. It smelled wonderful.”

“I guess it’s only fair. You’ve never had coffee before?”

“When would I have had a coffee?”

“You’re a millennia old God, I just assumed that at some point you might have had coffee.”

“Well, you would be wrong.”

“My apologies, your godliness.”

Walking to the library with Jongho by his side was an experience Yeosang never expected he would have. Yesterday, Jongho hadn’t been in physical form just to be safe. But ever since they were attacked, Yeosang didn’t care so much about being conspicuous. Because even though another mage couldn’t detect Jongho, they could instead detect Yeosang.

Yeosang was pretty used to getting stared at when he walked around during campus busy hours. He was always dressed like the millionaire he was and, though he disagreed, people told him he was attractive; so, it was no small wonder why people stared at him. But with Jongho, someone arguably more attractive and equally as affluently dressed, they really turned heads. So much for staying on the downlow.

Yeosang’s shift was uninteresting, to say the least, just like the night before. Jongho sat behind the desk with him, reading books on Greek mythology and complaining about them.

“You see, I didn’t actually kidnap Persephone. Sure, she was pretty and everything but above all else we were totally not each other’s type. And she was kind of a spoiled brat on top of that… Why would I want someone like that, let alone kidnap her? She just wanted to get back at her control freak mother, going after the bad boy. You know, rebellious teenager things. She ended up way more interested in Hecate, though. And yet, I still got blamed for everything! I got yelled at for _eons_ by her mother all for something that wasn’t even my fault!”

“Sounds like a real problem,” Yeosang said absentmindedly, filing away a couple papers he had to fill out for students to check out the various amenities the library had to offer besides books.

“It is! I’m not a bad guy: I helped defeat Chronos right along with all the others! I’m the oldest of my siblings, and seniority means nothing to them. Stick me in the Underworld and blame me for kidnapping an “innocent young girl”, they were afraid of me, that’s what it was.”

Yeosang sighed, sensing how worked up his servant was getting. If he continued to rant about this, someone was bound to hear and end up extremely confused.

“Stop reading those books if you already know they’re going to make you angry,” he told him, taking away the one Jongho held in his hand.

“Yeah, I know, I know.”

“What does it matter anyway? You’re still an all-powerful god, arguably stronger than a lot of them, with your own realm that none of them would ever dare enter… except like… maybe Hermes.”

Jongho seemed to consider what Yeosang was saying for a minute, a devious smile slowly making its way onto his face.

“You make an excellent point, my dear Master. I like you.”

“Glad that’s been established then,” Yeosang said with an eyeroll, turning back around to face his desk. A student stood there, patiently waiting for the librarian to assist him.

“You must be an idiot,” the student said as soon as Yeosang looked up at him before a word even came from his mouth. Yeosang didn’t recognize the boy; he seemed a little too young to be an actual college student but that wasn’t entirely out of the ordinary. Anyone with a library card could check out books; they got high school students coming in here all the time to write reports.

But this kid, though he had a couple books with him, didn’t look like he was here to write a report.

“Can I help you with something?” Yeosang asked, slightly confused but mostly offended. Jongho shifted in his chair behind him, pretending to read a book but Yeosang knew he was actually listening in. It was very faint, like a cloaking spell had been placed over the boy, but Yeosang could sense low energy magic from him. Jongho could probably sense it too; they should stay on high alert.

The boy seemed to take a step back, take a deep breath. He was rather short, well put together, and overall, very handsome. He wore tons of layers even though it wasn’t really that cold outside. He carried a bag over his shoulder with the initials for a local high school embroidered on it; so, the kid really was only in high school.

“My name’s Yeo Hwanwoong,” the kid introduced himself, holding his right hand out for a handshake. Yeosang noticed, with a start, the three red seals on Hwanwoong’s hand: another master. This wasn’t some sort of accidental meeting, this was intentional. Why else would he show off his seals so blatantly?

“Nice to meet you, Hwanwoong. What can I do for you?” Yeosang said, shaking the boy’s hand and maintaining his professionalism. He still had a cloaking spell over his own hand; Hwanwoong wouldn’t be able to see anything on his hand.

“You can start by not being such an idiot,” he scoffed, pulling Yeosang’s right hand forward and examining it. He waved his left hand over Yeosang’s right, easily dispelling the glamour covering the command seals. “I thought so.”

Yeosang ripped his hand from Hwanwoong’s grasp, putting the glamour spell back on his hand. “What the hell? What are you doing?” He hissed. Jongho uncrossed his legs in the chair behind him, ready to jump up if the need arose.

“You,” Hwanwoong pointed accusingly, practically spitting the word out. “Need to get yourself a servant. Walking around without one is a death wish! Are you stupid or something? Do you know what’s at stake here?”

“I don’t see how any of that concerns you,” Yeosang said, deciding that denying any involvement in this war was pointless at this point.

“Oh, it most certainly concerns me, because I’d like to propose an alliance,” Hwanwoong finished, placing the books he apparently wanted to check out on the desk between him and Yeosang.

“What?” Yeosang wasn’t entirely sure he understood what was going on here. First getting tested last night, and now another master, an enemy, wanted an alliance.

“You’re clearly super inexperienced in the ways of magecraft. You don’t even have anything disguising your energy. I could sense someone like you across town.” Hwanwoong leaned against the desk, getting as close to Yeosang as he could. He must’ve noticed that Jongho was listening in. “I could help you.”

“Why me?”

“One of the other members of my alliance saw you fight Caster last night. That’s some serious magic you used and with a little help, our team would be unstoppable.”

So that presence he and Jongho had sensed last night was one of Hwanwoong’s friends… he wasn’t sure how he felt about this. He really didn’t want to enter into anything without first consulting Jongho and he couldn’t quite do that with Hwanwoong watching him. Hwanwoong thought, like the master and servant last night, that Yeosang didn’t have a servant of his own and Yeosang really wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible.

“So, what do you say?” Hwanwoong asked.

Yeosang didn’t say anything for a second, waiting to see if Jongho had any input, but his servant stayed silent. Weren’t people looking to form an alliance supposed to impress possible allies? Prove that they were worth trusting? Hwanwoong hadn’t done anything of the sort so how could Yeosang be expected to trust him? An alliance did have its ups and downs in a war like this, but in the end, everyone would have to turn on each other and Yeosang wasn’t sure he wanted to be a part of that. He made up his mind then.

“I’ll have to pass,” he said, grabbing the books Hwanwoong had brought to the desk and beginning the process of checking them out. The books, Yeosang noticed, were all on general world history.

“What?” Hwanwoong looked genuinely taken aback. “You don’t even have a servant… how can you turn down an offer to learn more about magic?”

“Because I do know about magic, regardless of what you think. And who says I don’t have a servant? I’m perfectly capable of handling myself, kid.” Yeosang said, placing the processed books back on the table for Hwanwoong to take.

“Fine.” He grabbed his books. “But if you change your mind, come find me.”

And with that he whipped around and promptly left the library. How would he find Hwanwoong? The city was huge, and the kid obviously kept his magic hidden pretty well… Yeosang had a feeling he’d be seeing more of the teen around before the war was over.

He heard Jongho get out of his chair and walk forward to lean against the desk next to him.

“That was weird,” he said.

“Little bit, especially since I was just attacked last night.”

“Seems a little fast to ask someone for an alliance.”

“That was my thought. Plus, we’d have to turn against each other in the end.”

“Probably for the best,” Jongho agreed.

Yeosang watched Hwanwoong’s retreating figure through the glass doors of the library, wondering if the kid actually wanted an alliance or just someone easy to take along till the end. He’d have to face him at some point in this war, though. He wondered if all the other participants were as young as Hwanwoong was. He hoped not… he really didn’t want to have to fight, and potentially harm, children.

“Hey Jongho?”

“What?”

“Do you want that coffee now? I think it’s around that time I take a break.”

Jongho bumped his shoulder into Yeosang’s, exclaiming excitedly: “Yes, let’s go!”

Yeosang laughed as Jongho ran around the front desk, straight towards the coffee bar in the corner. It was hard to remember sometimes that this man was actually the terrifying god Yeosang had summoned only two nights ago.

After buying both of them coffees—a latte for himself and something chocolaty for Jongho—Yeosang led them through the library and out the back. Behind the library was a relatively secluded set of tables. It was a bit chilly outside, but it wasn’t terrible. Plus, if Yeosang could hardly handle staying in that library all day, Jongho must have been dying.

They sat at a table furthest from all the students also sitting outside so they could talk freely. Yeosang doubted anyone would be listening in—or even if they were, Yeosang doubted they’d think anything of it—but better safe than sorry.

“This really isn’t that bad,” Jongho said, sipping his coffee intermittently. He pulled the coat he wore around him a little tighter, nuzzling into the scarf around his neck. “It’s nice since it’s kind of cold out.”

“It’s not that bad for November,” Yeosang argued.

“Yeah, but you’re used to this kind of weather. Where I’m from, it hardly ever gets below 21 degrees.”

“Fair enough,” Yeosang conceded, thinking about how he would take the weather in Greece over the weather here any day. “It’s not for everyone, that’s for sure.”

“Like that Hwanwoong kid, he was wearing like four layers.”

“I noticed,” Yeosang agreed.

“Maybe he was trying to hide something.”

“Like what?”

“Like—”

Whatever Jongho was going to say was abruptly cut off. Out of nowhere, something small and compact whizzed just a hair past Yeosang’s face, exploding on impact with the cement behind him and sending empty tables flying.

Yeosang’s brain immediately went into overdrive; that could’ve been his life if he were sitting just a fraction of an inch closer to the table they sat at. He jumped up from his seat immediately, Jongho quickly following suit as the nearby students scrambled to get away from any other explosion that may hit.

“God damn it, I missed,” someone shouted from above them. Looking up, what Yeosang took to be another servant stood on the roof of the library. He wore all black, less like armor and more like fancy dress clothes but they were clearly flexible enough to fight in with a long black coat masking his small frame. A black hat sat on his head and a matching mask covered the bottom half of his face, completely obscuring his entire face from easy viewing. He held a complicated looking gun in one hand that glowed an unnatural neon blue from edge lights around it’s frame. He held a similar gun in his other hand but that one glowed a bright neon pink instead. A man stood next to him, presumably his master, looking down at the scene with a slightly worried expression twisting his features. Yeosang recognized the man next to the servant; he was in his musical theory class. Park Seonghwa if he remembered correctly. How many of the people he saw on a daily basis were actually mages? And how many of them now wanted to kill him because of this Holy Grail War?

“Careful Hongjoong… Don’t hit any of the students…” Seonghwa warned the servant, apparently calling himself a culturally appropriate name to blend in like Jongho was.

“Don’t worry, I won’t miss this time.” The servant aimed his other gun. Yeosang took this as his cue to stop standing around and get ready to defend himself.

“On my signal, we’re running inside the library,” Yeosang told Jongho, who begrudgingly nodded.

“That’s gotta be the archer servant,” Jongho explained. “I could take him out, Archers are easy. You just gotta get close to them and they’re usually pretty powerless.”

“Yeah, I’m sure but we’re not attacking. There are too many bystanders… too many people who could get hurt.”

Jongho looked from the servant on the roof to the panicking students watching in horror with their cellphones pulled out before agreeing with Yeosang. An all-out battle between two servants and their respective mages could be catastrophic to this area and the people who couldn’t escape.

The gunman shot more bullets, sending projectiles straight for Yeosang. Without even thinking, Yeosang’s crest activated, causing light to erupt from under his coat sleeve. He needed to move faster; there had to be a spell for that. Purple light shone under his feet at the thought, and he jumped out of the way of the first bullet. Three more bullets came flying down at him, but with the extra speed, Yeosang was able to dodge them all.

“Now,” he shouted towards Jongho, who understood immediately. They both took off towards the doors to the library. If they could get inside, they’d be safe for a while. The gunman wouldn’t follow them in; he’d lose the high ground.

Before they could reach the door, flames billowed down from above, blocking their path. Yeosang only just barely avoided the flames, jumping back as quick as his spell would allow.

“Not so fast, Yeosang, you’re not getting away,” Seonghwa shouted down at him. Yeosang could see the glowing red lines of the other mage’s crest from where he stood. A pyromancer… wonderful. One that knew who he was, too.

A volley of gunfire came down at them from the laughing servant; he seemed to be having the time of his life, shouting about how there was nowhere to run. As fast as he could, Yeosang placed a shield spell around him and Jongho, who was still acting as if he were just another bystander in all this mess.

“Have another plan, Master?” Jongho asked.

Yeosang shook his head no, unable to find his voice through the strain of keeping his shield functioning. Those bullets were strong, he wouldn’t be able to deflect them forever and he doubted the gunman would ever run out.

He didn’t have any other plan… where could they go without the Archer servant following them or Seonghwa blocking their path. Seonghwa probably knew where Yeosang lived… everyone usually did. It was hard to miss the manor only a short distance away from campus, so they couldn’t even escape there without endangering Yeosang’s family and neighbors.

What could they do?

“Well, this just won’t do at all!” A voice shouted over all the commotion. The gunfire stopped and Yeosang dropped his shield gratefully. Perched precariously on a nearby streetlight, stood what Yeosang could only assume was another servant. Immediately, Yeosang recognized the aura of magical energy coming from the man. It was the same kind of energy that they had sensed after Caster’s attack. An energy like Jongho’s, and now that Yeosang got the full force of it, older and possibly even stronger.

The man stood casually, as if his life wasn’t in danger at all stepping into a battle with a servant and two other mages. The way he was dressed only furthered the uncaring attitude the servant exuded: a sleek, black, pin-striped suit with a red undershirt; Yeosang could see the shine in the man’s oxfords from where he stood some ways away. The only indication that this very well-dressed man was actually something inhuman was the long, six-foot scythe he carried with him, blade pointed towards the ground, held casually in his right hand as if it were only a stick.

“Who the hell are you?” The gunman yelled, reloading his gun in one swift motion. He cocked the gun and took aim, but this time, it was directed at the newcomer.

“Berserker class servant, nice to meet you.” The man took a deep bow, not a single strand of his styled grey-streaked black hair falling out of place. “I’m afraid I’m here to make sure my friend, here, is safe.”

He gestured towards Yeosang but Yeosang couldn’t for the life of him figure out why this servant would be sent to protect him.

“I just don’t think it’s fair of you to attack a master without a servant,” he finished. “Kind of uncivilized, don’t you think?”

“That’s the Berserker class?” Yeosang asked Jongho. “The way you phrased it made them seem like battle crazy monsters.”

“They are… he just happens to be an exception,” Jongho whispered back.

“Yeah? And why the hell do you care what I do?” Hongjoong, as Seonghwa had called him earlier, yelled back to the opposing servant. His voice had some sort of distortion masking it. It must’ve been from the mask he wore covering his mouth.

“I don’t… as long as it doesn’t involve someone I’m allied with.”

It clicked in Yeosang’s mind then. Hwanwoong. That servant must be Hwanwoong’s, or at least someone’s in Hwanwoong’s alliance. Why was that kid doing this? Did he want Yeosang that badly?

“Maybe you should teach this guy how to protect himself,” the servant shouted back, firing off three bullets at the newcomer. “Because I think he’s got a death wish.” He finished, firing another couple from the other gun.

The Berserker servant easily avoided all the projectiles, jumping off his streetlight perch just in time to be missed by all the small pellets. He hit the ground running, his scythe rounded up behind him, ready to strike when he got close enough. The gunman continued to rain bullets down from above while the other gained ground on him, easily deflecting what came too close with the large blade of his scythe.

Yeosang watched the spectacle in awe, completely forgetting that he was in the middle of a warzone until he felt a tug at his arm. Turning around, he was met with the worried face of none other than Hwanwoong, still wearing four layers of jackets.

“Come on, we have to get out of here before Archer notices,” he told Yeosang, pulling him towards the library. Jongho started to follow along too, which earned him a confused look from Hwanwoong.

“He’s a friend… he knows about everything, it’s okay,” Yeosang attempted to convince. Hwanwoong looked a bit skeptical at first but gave in when he realized he didn’t have much of a choice if he wanted Yeosang to follow him.

“Fine, he can come too,” Hwanwoong conceded and the three of them escaped into the library just as the ground seemed to shake from the impact of one of Archer’s explosive bullets. He was thoroughly distracted by Berserker… they could easily escape now.

“Why are you helping me?” Yeosang asked as Hwanwoong continued to pull him along through the maze of bookshelves.

“I told you, I want to combine forces. There’s already three of us, and one more would make us the majority. We could overwhelm the other masters,” Hwanwoong told him. “Your friend could get protection too, since he’s been associated with you now.”

“Believe me, he doesn’t need protecting,” Yeosang said. Jongho snorted out a laugh.

“Alright sure, let’s say that’s true. You still need a servant and some help learning magic, right?” Hwanwoong stopped to turn around and look at Yeosang.

“How do you even know that? And how do you know I don’t have a servant?”

An ear-shattering ringing echoed around the room, causing all of them to immediately clutch at their ears as the entire building shook from some sort of impact. It seemed Berserker had finally reached Archer.

“Look, we could talk about this back at my apartment. We don’t have much time before San accidentally blows the place up. Please, could you just come with me?” Hwanwoong seemed to turn desperate, literally begging for Yeosang to come with him.

“Fine, but I’m not agreeing to anything just yet. And I’m only coming if Jongho can come too.”

“Sure whatever, let’s just get out of here. San is a Berserker class, it’s only a matter of time before he loses it completely and who knows what that Archer is capable of,” Hwanwoong said, beginning to literally sprint towards the front exit of the building. Guess it really was serious.

Yeosang looked at Jongho who only shrugged, equally as confused on what to do as Yeosang was. At least if the situation turned sour, he’d have Jongho to back him up against whatever may lie in wait.

They sprinted after Hwanwoong, exiting the library, and catching up to where the teenager stood frozen at the entrance. He looked out down the practically deserted street, deserted except for one man.

“It seems like all the commotion Archer caused served as a calling card for literally all the other servants,” Hwanwoong said, pointing towards the man standing down the road.

“Wonderful,” Yeosang sighed. He squinted to look at the man. Unlike the other two, the man down the road was clearly dressed for a fight. Silver armor shining in the sunlight and red highlights contrasting darkly. His face was obscured by a plumed helmet, red feathers curling behind him in the wind. But none of that was what worried Yeosang; what worried him was the large, formidable sword intricately decorated with red gemstones and gold inlay that was placed in the ground in front of him. He stood there, both wrists resting on top of the blade that was stuck in the ground.

Yeosang remembered what Jongho had said about the saber class of servants: They were the most powerful out of all the seven. And judging by the sword the servant held… they had just run into him.

“Finally, some opponents approach me. I was getting horribly bored,” the servant called out. “Which one of you has a servant brave enough to challenge the greatest swordsman the world has ever seen since King Arthur himself?”

Hwanwoong nervously ran a hand through his hair, looking positively distressed.

“This is really not good… My servant can’t go up against a saber,” Hwanwoong began to mumble. Yeosang wondered what servant Hwanwoong had, there weren’t very many choices left. “A caster has no chance against a saber, and you don’t have a servant… Fuck.”

“Hold on a second,” Yeosang said, moving to stand in front of Hwanwoong so he could be face to face with the teenager. “You’re Caster’s master? The servant that attacked me last night?”

Hwanwoong’s expression went from panicked to absolutely grave. He seemed to search for any sort of excuse, a few strangled nonsensical words coming from his mouth.

“I didn’t… I wasn’t…” He started, trying to no avail to find the words to explain himself. “I didn’t want Caster to try and kill you, but he did anyway. He said you insulted me or something. Can we please talk about this later? We really have a problem here with this saber servant.”

Hwanwoong looked so pleading… Yeosang caved. He wasn’t happy in the least bit but Hwanwoong _had_ stopped Caster from killing him… and the saber servant was beginning to get impatient.

“Are you done talking? I came here for a fight, but I can settle for merciless slaughter if that’s what you’d all prefer,” the servant mocked, pulling his sword out of the ground, and pointing it at the three of them.

“Fuck, if only you had your servant. We might have a chance.”

Yeosang looked to Jongho, who nodded in understanding. It seemed they really didn’t have much of a choice anymore if they wanted to survive this. Yeosang couldn’t take on a weapon-based opponent, not without knowing how to create his own weapons first. They couldn’t stay on the downlow any longer under these circumstances.

“Who said I didn’t have a servant?” Yeosang asked. Hwanwoong looked at him, completely incredulous.

“What are you talking about?” Hwanwoong asked. “If you had a servant, I’d be able to sense him.”

“I thought I’d never get the chance to fight,” Jongho said, placing a hand on Hwanwoong’s shoulder as he passed him. The teenager looked up at him, confusion clearly written across his face.

“What? But I thought… he doesn’t have any auras. That doesn’t make any sense.”

Jongho stepped in front of Yeosang, shedding his coat so he stood in only a T-shirt and jeans. Swiping his right hand left across his body, his lance spun into existence, twirling in the air in front of him before he caught it in his right hand. He brought it back around so that the two prongs pointed towards the ground. He didn’t even bother transforming any further, apparently no armor was necessary.

“You thought wrong, kid. Servant: Lancer at your service.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! All comments appreciated! 
> 
> And if anyone besides the people I've told gets the reference behind what Hongjoong's true identity is, I'll love you forever <3
> 
> Follow me on Twitter if you ever wanna chat! @AAvery151


	4. Chapter 4

Jongho looked positively ecstatic as he stood between Yeosang and the saber servant down the road. From the looks of it, Yeosang guessed his servant had been anxious to battle. He felt a little guilty denying him that pleasure for so long.

Jongho relaxed his battle stance, spinning his lance so it was in his right hand and braced behind his back.

“Tell me, swordsman,” he called out to the opposing servant. “Do you think you can give me a challenge before I kill you?”

“I should be asking you that question, Lancer. How serious an opponent can you be without any armor?” Saber met Jongho’s challenge with another quip. They were toying with each other, purposefully trying to make the other angry enough to make the first move. The same kind of tactic Yeosang had used on Hwanwoong’s servant the other night.

Yeosang wasn’t worried about Jongho caving first. What did worry him was his servant’s blatant disregard for personal safety. Why the hell hadn’t he transformed completely?

“You jest, Saber,” Jongho laughed, twirling his lance a few times casually, showboating his abilities a little more. “I was only leveling the playing field, but I’m afraid that even without armor, you’re still no match for me. I could take you on with my eyes closed!”

Jongho had really done it now. With every word that he spoke, the saber seemed to get visibly angrier and angrier. He ripped off his helmet and tossed it to the side in his fury, revealing a pleasant face and stark, shaggy black hair. His appearance didn’t strike Yeosang as familiar in the least bit unfortunately; though, the anger on his face was easily recognizable.

“I will make you eat those words, Lancer, if there’s anything left of you by the time I’ve finished you off!”

Saber launched himself forward, straight at Jongho, very clearly blinded by his anger. Jongho smirked, obviously about to have the time of his life, before racing to meet the swordsman head on.

Their weapons clashed with a flash and a piercing ring. Saber swung his sword down, aiming for Jongho’s shoulder. Not missing a beat, Jongho caught the swordsman’s blade between the two prongs of his bident and, using the servant’s momentum against him, directed the blade straight into the ground while Jongho dodged to the left. Saber’s eyes widened in fear as Jongho then quickly swung his lance around to take a swipe at his opponent’s head.

Saber only just barely jumped out of reach of Jongho’s lance, abandoning his sword lodged in the asphalt of the street entirely.

“You’re quicker than you look,” the saber servant said. “For someone of a larger size.”

Jongho laughed at that, righting his fighting stance, and readying his weapon for the next attack.

“It’s all muscle,” Jongho quipped right back. Yeosang wondered if it was normal for people trying to kill each other to exchange friendly banter while on the battlefield. He didn’t think so.

“I suppose that’s why you opted not to wear any armor,” Saber continued. “To be able to match me in speed.” His sword disappeared from where it was stuck in the ground and materialized back in his hand.

“You catch on quick,” Jongho agreed. “But I also happen to know that sword of yours would just go straight through whatever kind of armor I might have been wearing.”

The swordsman launched himself at Jongho again, running at him in full force. Careful not to get his sword trapped by Jongho’s two-pronged lance again, he swung from the left, hoping to catch his opponent off guard.

He wasn’t so lucky. Jongho blocked his attack with the middle of his lance as if it were nothing. Saber didn’t back off, however.

“And how would you come to make such an assumption?” The swordsman asked, pressing against Jongho’s lance with as much force as he could muster.

“Because my lance does the same thing!” Jongho said through gritted teeth, pushing the saber servant off him and twirling his lance around to take another swipe at his opponent.

Yeosang watched in amazement as Jongho’s lance slid straight through the steel armor covering Saber’s left side. It left no gash in the armor, however, as if Saber’s armor weren’t even there. The swordsman was too far from the pronged weapon for any major damage to be done, but it was enough to cause alarm if it wasn’t dealt with; a splatter of blood staining the outside of the otherwise pristine armor told everyone that skin had been pierced.

If it hurt, Saber didn’t let anything show. Yeosang thought that Saber’s master must’ve been somewhere nearby, ready to heal whatever injuries his servant might incur.

“I see,” the servant said, placing his hand on the bloodspot and pulling it away to see his palm covered in blood. “How annoying.”

“I thought you were looking for a challenge,” Jongho taunted, throwing his arms out to the side; a gesture that screamed overconfidence, except Yeosang knew his servant had the talent to back up his cocky attitude. He just hoped it didn’t cloud his judgement.

Saber gripped his sword a little tighter, anger clearly boiling through to the surface. The ground cracked under his feet, splitting open from the sheer force of the servant standing there.

“You want a challenge, Lancer? I’ll show you a challenge!”

A powerful shockwave exploded outwards from Saber; Yeosang struggled to stand through the force, Hwanwoong fell over all together. Flames, colored a deep, unnatural red, erupted from the now gigantic spiderweb of cracks below the servant’s feet, engulfing his entire figure. Yeosang felt the power then, the raw emotion, the sheer, unbridled anger that poured from the swordsman. Jongho felt it too if the way his grip tightened on his own weapon was any indication.

“ _Jongho,”_ Yeosang called after his servant, immediately sensing the danger he was about to be in. “ _You have to get out of there.”_

“He’s going to use his ultimate…” Hwanwoong mumbled, fear clear in his voice as he stood back up. “We should get out of here.”

Jongho glanced back at Yeosang. He looked worried. Not for himself but for Yeosang.

“ _He’s planning on unleashing his strongest move,”_ Yeosang explained, hoping to convey the gravity of the situation. But it had the exact opposite effect on his servant than what he had intended. There was a resolve on Jongho’s face that wasn’t there before. He turned back around to face the flame-engulfed servant; lance held tightly in both of his hands as he prepared for the onslaught.

“That’s an awful lot of show,” Jongho continued to tease. Not a single ounce of his fear was showing on the outside, his voice was as confident as ever. “Show that revealed who you are to me, you ought to be more careful.”

How Jongho was able to know such a thing was lost to Yeosang but it was clear that Saber simply did not care. He laughed maniacally, an ominous sound that echoed around the deserted street. He sounded absolutely mad, like the man who had started the battle had suddenly lost his mind.

“Who cares what you think?! Yes, I’m the greatest knight there ever was and ever will be! Mordred, son of the legendary King Arthur and rightful heir to the throne of Camelot. It doesn’t matter if you know! You’ll all be dead in a matter of minutes!”

Yeosang could sense Jongho’s annoyance at such a statement, but Yeosang didn’t have the chance to call Jongho off. Mordred, as the saber servant had named himself, slashed his sword diagonally in a big, sweeping motion, sending a burst of fire billowing straight towards Jongho. Yeosang’s servant blocked the flames with a twirl of his bident; but his lance went flying from his hands, the metal burning his hands as the fire continued to come at him.

“Jongho!” Yeosang cried, taking a step to run towards his servant. Hwanwoong stopped him, grabbing his arm, and holding him in place.

“Are you crazy? Mordred isn’t someone you can run at like you had Hamlet! That man _destroyed_ armies in his anger towards his father.”

“We need to get out of here,” Yeosang said, worriedly running a hand through his hair.

“Yeah, no shit!” Hwanwoong scoffed. “But where are we going to go that Saber wouldn’t just follow?”

The swordsman laughed again, the sound echoing off every building, seeming to surround them as he wound up for another attack.

“Say goodbye, Lancer.”

Without his weapon, Jongho was completely defenseless, completely at the mercy of Mordred’s flames.

But before Saber got the chance to finish his next attack, four explosions hit, one right after the other, at the enemy’s feet.

The flames died instantly as Mordred jumped away from whatever projectiles were being flung at him. Four more, what Yeosang identified to be nasty looking daggers, went flying at the swordsman.

Mordred dodged them but just barely, jumping away and looking furiously around for the source of the intrusion. His eyes narrowed when he found it.

Following the swordsman’s line of sight, Yeosang saw yet another servant, perched on the edge of a nearby roof. The servant was clad in all black, wearing skin-tight armor and a cape slung over his left shoulder and around his back. A hood hid his face from view. Yeosang was hit with a sudden feeling of déjà vu; the new servant was dressed exactly like Jongho had been the first night he had been summoned, he even had the same type of dagger that Jongho had hanging from his belt then too. Albeit Jongho’s armor had been much flashier, but the same style all the same. The most notable difference between the two; however, were the large, black feathered wings arched above the new servant.

When Yeosang cued into the servant’s magical aura, to get a read on the newcomer, he was surprised to find even the servant’s energy was similar to that of Jongho’s. Dark, foreboding terror; noticeably weaker and less overwhelming but the same, nonetheless. And if the ecstatic smile that spread across Jongho’s face at the sight of the servant was anything to go by, Jongho recognized him.

“Assassin,” Hwanwoong whispered, sounding like he didn’t believe what he saw. “I told him not to come if a fight broke out.”

“A friend of yours?” Yeosang asked; Hwanwoong nodded as another series of daggers were hurled at the saber servant. The impact of the daggers seemed to shock Hwanwoong out of whatever terrified stupor he had been in for the duration of the battle between servants.

“Come on, we need to get out of here before Saber realizes he’s being distracted,” Hwanwoong said, beginning to sprint down the street, away from the battle.

Looking towards Jongho, his servant nodded in understanding before they both took off after Hwanwoong. Jongho picked up his bident as he went, taking one last look at the assassin class servant. Yeosang made a mental note to ask him about that later.

Hwanwoong was fast; he must’ve been using a spell to make his getaway faster. Yeosang cast the same kind of spell over himself to catch up; he was surprised to find that Jongho was easily able to keep up, staying a few feet behind his master. He wondered, fleetingly, how fast his servant could actually move.

Without so much as a warning, Hwanwoong turned to the left, ducking into a small side street suddenly. Yeosang skidded on his right foot a couple times, trying to turn as fast as he could without falling over or losing momentum. He made the turn, Jongho followed after him as if it were nothing, laughing at Yeosang’s display.

“Is this really the time to be laughing at me?” He called back to Jongho.

“Probably not but that was just too damn adorable to ignore,” Jongho said, continuing to laugh. Yeosang shook his head, deciding to focus on running instead of Jongho’s melodious laughter, grateful for the excuse of running to hide the blush that he knew was on his face.

Hwanwoong took another left up ahead, down an alleyway that was blocked at the end by a fence. No outlet.

Yeosang slid to a halt, watching in wonder as Hwanwoong launched himself on top of a large dumpster and then over the fence that blocked his path. No hesitation. No loss of momentum.

“What even is this kid…” Yeosang scoffed. But he didn’t have time to reminisce about Hwanwoong’s inhuman abilities. Jongho came up behind him and didn’t stop. With no warning, Yeosang’s feet left the ground as Jongho easily scooped him up into his arms. Yeosang squeaked indignantly despite himself, gripping on his servant’s neck like his life depended on it… which, it probably did.

“Hold on,” Jongho warned a bit too late, vaulting over the fence without the aid of the dumpster at all. He landed easily on the other side, sprinting after Hwanwoong with a practiced grace. They bounded around the corner, taking a right at the next street after Hwanwoong. Then, after another block, the three of them slowed to a stop. Hwanwoong bent over, hands on his knees, breathing heavily while Jongho carefully placed Yeosang on the ground.

“A bit of a warning next time you decide to do something like that,” Yeosang chastised between gulps of air as he too tried to catch his breath.

“There wasn’t any time,” Jongho laughed, hardly looking affected by the five-block sprint they just performed. “It wasn’t like I was going to hurt you.”

Yeosang was especially glad now, that he had the excuse of running to hide his blushing face. Jongho was strong… and handsome… It wasn’t Yeosang’s fault he was attracted to strong, handsome men. He rolled his eyes at Jongho’s words to further hide his embarrassment.

“I think…” Hwanwoong started, standing upright and straightening his many layers of jackets. “I think we’re far enough away to stop running now… My apartment’s just over there.” He finished, pointing to a small, slightly run-down looking apartment complex just down the street.

“What about Assassin and Berserker?” Yeosang asked, following after Hwanwoong as he slowly started walking towards the building he had pointed out.

“There’s no way Saber can follow after Keonhee, the guy can fly. And San’s battle crazy, not stupid. He knows when to retreat if he’s in trouble,” Hwanwoong answered. Yeosang was slightly confused by the use of regular names but he figured he’d find out eventually who was who anyway. Yeosang only nodded in understanding, looking back at Jongho for some sort of assurance they were doing the right thing. His servant shrugged, equally as unsure.

They followed Hwanwoong into the shabby apartment building. Taking the sketchiest elevator Yeosang had ever ridden in, they were deposited onto the fifth floor.

“I apologize for the mess,” Hwanwoong said, unlocking door number 520 and ushering them all inside. “I haven’t had much of a chance to clean after summoning my servant… that made a bit of a mess…”

Yeosang waved it off as he walked inside the small room with Jongho following close behind. He couldn’t really judge someone on how messy their living space was, especially with the way his always looked.

Yeosang surveyed the apartment. It wasn’t very big nor was it as messy as Hwanwoong’s warning might have suggested. There was a small kitchenette attached to a decently sized living room that hardly had any furniture. Every inch of countertop space that the small kitchen had to offer was covered in ingredients, spell books, and items necessary to perform high level magic; Yeosang doubted the kitchen had ever been used to make food. There were two small couches in the living room and a table between the two. A TV sat on a rickety-looking cabinet, with a couple of game systems hooked up to it. A closed door stood to the left of the TV, presumably leading to Hwanwoong’s bedroom. And that’s all there was to the room; granted it did look a lot better than the rest of the complex.

The only sign of mess was where Hwanwoong had drawn a summoning circle on the linoleum floors of the kitchen; half-melted candles still sat at each point and a few stray splatters of dried blood were scattered around the floor. There was only one thing that really seemed out of place to Yeosang, though.

“Where are your parents?” He asked before he could think better of the question. Hwanwoong froze on his way to close his apartment door.

“Dead,” he said after a period of silence. “Along with the rest of my family.” The teenager began taking off his many layers, hanging them up neatly on their own hooks by the door. Yeosang regretted asking but before he could begin to apologize, Hwanwoong changed the subject quickly. “But that’s not important right now.”

“And what is important?” Yeosang asked.

“How the hell you were able to hide a servant like that…” Hwanwoong pointed at Jongho for effect, who looked a little startled at being addressed so suddenly. “From me.”

“And me,” another voice chimed in as a series of purple specks solidified into a human being behind Hwanwoong. The man was taller than everyone in the room and held himself with a confidence that demanded respect. His hair was a deep black and his eyes an unnatural magenta. He was dressed casually but Yeosang wasn’t fooled. He knew who this was; and if the way Jongho stepped closer to him was anything to go by, he knew as well.

“Jongho, was it?” Hwanwoong asked. Jongho nodded. “Even now, I’m getting literally nothing from him. This doesn’t make any sense.”

“Before I explain myself,” Jongho spoke up. “Introduce us to your friend.” He nodded towards Caster.

Hwanwoong cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable with the situation.

“This is Hamlet, a caster type servant as you found out last night…” Hwanwoong trailed off, looking incredibly guilty as his eyes roamed everywhere besides Jongho and Yeosang.

“But for the sake of not revealing my identity to everyone else, please call me Youngjo,” the servant announced, taking a dramatic bow to finish introducing himself.

“You were supposed to stay hidden,” Hwanwoong mumbled.

“Yes, and I thought I should apologize for what happened last night myself. It wasn’t your fault anyway,” Youngjo argued back. Hwanwoong didn’t say anything, looking down at the ground in embarrassment.

“I’m listening,” Yeosang said, crossing his arms.

“It was my fault for letting my emotions get the better of me. Hwanwoong did not instruct me to kill you. Look, the kid even wasted a command seal to save you.” Youngjo grabbed Hwanwoong’s wrist and showed Yeosang the three red marks on Hwanwoong’s hand… Except, upon further inspection, one of the magical seals was significantly more faded than the other two. Something Yeosang hadn’t noticed before.

“He’s a good guy,” Youngjo continued. “You can trust him… if not me, then at the very least him.”

Yeosang looked from the serious expression Youngjo wore to the absolutely embarrassed one on Hwanwoong’s face. He sighed deeply, looking at Jongho who seemed to know exactly what he was thinking. Besides, had Youngjo actually continued his attack the other night, it wouldn’t have been Yeosang who had died.

“I accept your apology, but we’re not agreeing to any alliance until we meet everyone else.”

Youngjo broke into a bright smile and Hwanwoong relaxed.

“That’s reasonable, they should be here soon,” Hwanwoong nodded. “But until then, we can sit if you wanna… we did just run all the way over here.”

Yeosang agreed. Now that the adrenaline was starting to fade, he was beginning to feel absolutely exhausted. He let Jongho lead him to one of the couches. His servant sat next to him; an arm extended behind him on the edge of the couch in a protective manner. Hwanwoong and Youngjo sat down on the other couch.

“So now would you mind explaining why we can’t sense any sort of magical energy from your servant?” Youngjo asked once they were all settled down.

“I’d rather not reveal my servant’s identity to you both if you don’t mind. I’m sure you can understand, we’ll have to turn against each other in the end after all, alliance or not,” Yeosang started.

“Yeah, we get it, you don’t have to tell us,” Hwanwoong said, though his servant looked a little annoyed by such an answer.

“That being said,” Jongho started. “The reason you can’t detect me, why no one but my Master can unless I decide otherwise, is because of who I am. Since I can’t tell you that, you’re just going to have to trust that answer. But I am actually a servant and I am the Lancer for this war.”

Youngjo crossed his arms, clearly unsatisfied with such an answer. Yeosang couldn’t think of a way to explain Jongho’s ability without giving away important details that could lead to his true identity, so Youngjo and Hwanwoong would just have to deal.

Thankfully, before any more questions could be thrown at them, a knock sounded at the front door before a boy, who looked to be the same age as Hwanwoong, bounded into the room, yelling loudly:

“Hwanwoong! Are you alright? I saw Keonhee had shown up along with that saber servant, but I couldn’t find where you went!” The boy shouted, frantically looking around the room before finally settling on Hwanwoong.

Another man came running into the room directly after him, blindly crashing against him and sending them both to the floor.

“Hey! What were you standing in the doorway for, stupid?!” The second one yelled, standing back up and dusting himself off dramatically.

“What were you doing running through the door like a mad man?!” The first shouted right back, still laying on the floor in front of the door.

Hwanwoong sighed. “Why did he even bother knocking if he was just going to barge in anyway?”

“What goes through that boy’s head will forever be a mystery that I don’t care enough to solve,” Youngjo agreed, holding the bridge of his nose.

Hwanwoong gestured half-heartedly to the arguing pair: “The one on the ground is Mingi, and the other is his servant San. Hey! Losers! stop arguing and close the damn door. We have guests.”

Mingi picked himself off the floor, looking curiously over at Yeosang and Jongho.

“Oh, these are the two we saw the night you attacked that guy,” Mingi said slowly. He then gave a dramatic bow. “Song Mingi, conjuration specialist at your service.”

The servant dressed like a fortune five hundred businessman stepped in front of Ming then, proclaiming excitedly:

“And I’m his servant, San of the Berserker class!” He looked rather proud of himself at such a proclamation. “The man who saved your life at the library! Now who exactly are you?”

Yeosang cleared his throat, feeling rather uncomfortable with so much attention suddenly turned towards him. But before he got the chance to answer, Hwanwoong’s door came flying open again as two more people entered the room in a rush. The shorter of the two slammed the door shut, bracing himself against it and breathing hard. The other collapsed to the ground, unmoving as a small puddle of blood began to pool underneath him.

“Keonhee?” Hwanwoong exclaimed in surprise, instantly jumping up from the couch and rushing over to the pair. Mingi and San moved out of the way as Hwanwoong came forward. “What happened, Seoho?”

The boy bracing himself against the door shook his head, looking close to tears as he said: “That Saber… I don’t know what happened… he was so fast. Keonhee got hit…”

Through the broken sentences, Yeosang was able to piece together what happened. It seemed Saber was an enemy to be reckoned with.

“Why didn’t you heal him?” Hwanwoong asked, kneeling beside the shivering servant on the floor. Yeosang and Jongho stood up as well; Yeosang moved to kneel next to the servant opposite Hwanwoong, Jongho hovering respectfully behind him.

“I did…” Seoho said hopelessly. “I did, it should’ve worked… Why didn’t my spell work?”

“Come on, let’s sit down,” Mingi grabbed ahold of Seoho’s arms, pulling him away from the door before he worked himself into a panic attack. “He’ll be fine.”

Seoho continued to choke out broken sentences stating his extreme worry but Yeosang ignored them now, listening to the instructions Hwanwoong was giving him.

“Help me get him on his back,” Hwanwoong said, beginning to pull the man on his back as carefully as he could. Yeosang helped, noting the alarming amount of blood that covered the man’s clothes.

“Do you know any healing spells?” Hwanwoong asked. “Because we’re going to need a strong spell if even Seoho wasn’t able to heal the wound.”

Yeosang nodded even though he hadn’t the slightest idea how to cast a healing spell. He closed his eyes and placed his hands over the long gash across the servant’s abdomen. It was deep; no wonder a basic heal spell didn’t help in the slightest.

Remembering what Jongho had told him about his magic crest and his circuits, Yeosang imagined the wound healing underneath his hands. He felt a tingling go up his arm and familiar tugging in his chest as his crest activated. He didn’t know how long he kept the spell going, but when he let go, the servant’s wound was healing. Not perfect, since the man had lost an insane amount of blood, but he was going to be okay. Hwanwoong looked utterly stunned.

“How did you do that?” He whispered. Yeosang shrugged slightly, feeling suddenly light-headed.

“Do what?” Seoho asked shakily, standing up from where Mingi had led him to the couch. “Is he okay?”

“He’s fine, let’s get him on the bed,” Hwanwoong said, snapping out of his awe.

When Keonhee, or the assassin class servant as Yeosang learned shortly after, was placed safely in Hwanwoong’s bedroom to rest, the remaining seven sat, or stood in Jongho’s case, in the living room. Yeosang was introduced to Lee Seoho, a proclaimed “restoration specialist”.

“Why are you here?” Seoho asked, his eyes were puffy and red from crying. “I mean, I’m happy you are, you saved his life and all, but why?”

“This is the guy I told you about,” Hwanwoong spoke up.

“The really strong one without a servant?” Seoho asked, Hwanwoong nodded.

Yeosang cleared his throat before speaking:

“My name’s Yeosang… and my servant.” He pointed to the man standing behind him; Jongho waved. “Jongho, Lancer class.”

Both Mingi and Seoho looked surprised and a little confused.

“You mean he’s a servant?” Mingi asked, pointing at Jongho behind Yeosang.

“We’ve been through this,” Youngjo sighed, clearly getting impatient.

“But it doesn’t matter anyway. Jongho is a servant and Yeosang, his master,” Hwanwoong explained. “I saw Jongho fight Saber, and we’ve all just seen what Yeosang is capable of.”

“And in turn, he’s seen what we’ve got to offer…” Youngjo finished.

“How did you all meet?” Yeosang asked next. He wanted to know as much as he could about his potential allies and if they were close to each other outside of this war. Something like that wouldn’t bode well for him when the four of them were all that was left in the fight.

The three teenagers looked rather taken aback by the question, looking at each other, silently asking if they should answer such a question.

“We all go to the same high school,” Hwanwoong started.

“We’re the only mages that go there so we kind of just fell together,” Seoho said, voice cracking from all the crying he’d been doing.

“We play a lot of video games mainly…” Mingi finished and they all nodded as if everything they just said summed up their entire relationship perfectly.

Yeosang was able to put everything together, though. They were all friends outside this war’ they just didn’t want to say that in case it scared Yeosang away. He looked from Seoho’s puffy, red eyes; to the bright smile Mingi wore as San messed with hair, a slightly perturbed expression on his face; to the expectant and hopeful look both Youngjo and Hwanwoong wore. Disregarding the servants, Yeosang was in a room full of teenagers… He felt the sudden urge to protect every single one of them, despite the fact he hadn’t met any of them before today.

“Fine,” Yeosang agreed. “I’ll join you.”

Hwanwoong broke into a relieved smile.

“I was really hoping you’d agree…” he said. “So now we need to discuss what to do next.”

“Saber should be our first priority,” Seoho mumbled, clutching a pillow close to his chest.

“I think we can all agree with that but let’s not forget about Archer. He was able to last a lot longer than I expected against me. His ultimate move might be something to worry about if he’s able to catch anyone besides me within it,” San spoke up. “Plus, his master seemed to know who Yeosang was.”

“What was his ultimate move?” Hwanwoong asked, curiosity piqued.

“A reality marble,” Mingi explained. He laughed slightly at the confused look Yeosang gave him. “That means he was able to create basically a pocket dimension and transport us into it to fight. I’m really not sure where we went. It looked like just an abandoned warehouse… but seven other servants were hidden within. San barely managed to escape. Archer deployed the move in a panic but if his ultimate was supposed to reveal who he was… I haven’t got a clue.”

“Seven other servants within a reality marble that took the shape of an abandoned warehouse…” Hwanwoong pondered aloud. “I have zero clue about any myth or legend surrounding something like that. And he uses guns on top of that so his legend must be relatively new…”

“It’s troubling…” Youngjo mused in agreement. “Do you think Archer’s a bigger threat than Saber?”

“He could attack Yeosang at any time if he knows where he lives,” Mingi answered. “And who knows if he’s able to command those extra seven outside of his reality marble.”

“Then we should definitely take Archer out first and then go for Saber,” Hwanwoong agreed.

“What about Rider? Does anyone even know where he is?” Youngjo asked.

“Keonhee and I haven’t been able to find him,” Seoho said, sniffling slightly.

“How strange…”

“Regardless, we have a rough idea about what to do,” Hwanwoong decided. “Once Keonhee gets better we can solidify exactly what to do. Until then, we should all rest… this day ended up a lot crazier than I expected.

“Good idea.”

There wasn’t much else to discuss with one member down, so the seven of them called it a night. One the walk back to the manor, Yeosang mulled over everything that had happened during the day.

And what a day it was.

He almost died four different times in the last two days; three of which occurred today. Without Hwanwoong and his friends, he and Jongho might not have been walking home tonight. He worried about what the future would hold if all the other servants were so strong. Jongho was extremely powerful, the only issue would be his servant’s overconfidence in his abilities. Then, there were also the problems that would inevitably occur within his alliance. They’d all turn on each other eventually and Yeosang had a sneaking suspicion that he would be the first target between the other three. He wasn’t sure how he would be able to deal with that; especially since they were all practically children.

“Are you sure about all this?” Jongho asked as they walked through the deserted streets of the city. Hwanwoong lived in a particularly sketchy part of town so no one was around. The two of them felt pretty safe talking about everything out in the open as they slowly made their way back home.

“No, but they’re just kids…” Yeosang responded.

“Yeah, kids in a war to the death.”

“Exactly my point.”

“You’re too kind for your own good.”

Yeosang rolled his eyes. Was it really so bad that he wanted to protect a group of children in this deadly situation? Sure, they would try to kill him at some point but until then he felt obligated to help them achieve their goals.

A thought came to Yeosang’s mind, then.

“Jongho?”

“Yes?”

“Why are you in this war?”

“What do you mean?”

“They’re all here because they have a wish to be granted. Hwanwoong, Seoho, Mingi; along with their servants…”

“You wish to know mine?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought that would be obvious, seeing as you know who I am.” His servant laughed coldly. “Acceptance… The respect I deserved yet never got…”

“A place on Mount Olympus.”

“You got me.”

Yeosang thought about what he would wish for if he won… He hadn’t the slightest idea. He felt it almost unfair to the other participants and to Jongho that he was in this war for no good reason. That if he won, he’d be taking away a possibly life saving wish from someone who needed it. But if he didn’t win for that exact reason, he’d be taking away Jongho’s chance at happiness.

What was he going to do?

“What are you thinking about over there that has got you so worked up?” Jongho laughed, snapped Yeosang out of his worried thoughts.

“Nothing.”

“Well, I know that’s not true,” Jongho said. “If you’re worried about winning, then you should stop. In a war like this, you have to take it one step at a time.”

“I’m more worried about what to do if we win… I feel like a cheat, not having a real reason for being in this war other than I have the right family name,” Yeosang admitted.

Jongho stopped walking, pulling Yeosang to a halt along with him.

“That’s what you’re worried about?” Jongho moved to stand in front of Yeosang. He didn’t say anything in response, refusing to look up at his servant. “You were chosen by the Holy Grail, just like all of them. It doesn’t pick people who don’t have something worth fighting for, just because you don’t know it yet doesn’t it’s not there.

_When_ we win, I have absolutely no doubt you’ll know what to do.”

Yeosang thought for a minute, really letting Jongho’s words sink in, wanting desperately to believe them. He nodded in understanding, looking over at Jongho who smiled back at him.

“Let’s go home then.”

He nodded again, following his servant home with a new-found confidence in himself and their team. He wanted to win, if not for himself then for the man who had helped him get this far, for the man who had been wronged his entire existence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! All comments appreciated! 
> 
> Follow me on Twitter for updates and other fun things! @AAvery151


	5. Chapter 5

The very next day was very slow, and for once, neither Jongho nor Yeosang could complain. After almost dying a total of five times since Yeosang summoned his servant, it was nice to have a normal day. They both knew the peace wouldn’t last long. In fact, the longer the peace lasted the more worried the both of them became. It was only a matter of time before they were attacked again, but they would enjoy whatever downtime they were given.

Yeosang’s lectures went by without a problem. Neither of them could detect any mages throughout his classes, but after what Hwanwoong had told him about cloaking spells, he figured they were all just hiding if there were any.

Jongho followed him around in physical form all day. If anyone noticed that he wasn’t actually a student they had ever seen before, no one said anything, including the two professors that taught the lectures Yeosang had attended. The servant had been pretty worried that his presence would prove to be a problem, but after the first lecture he calmed down a bit. Yeosang found it surprising that Jongho hadn’t once complained about his boredom. He had been entirely too quiet throughout the day as well, as if something were bothering him, but he was too worried to bring it up.

Yeosang didn’t think much of it at first but nearing the end of his shift at the library with still hardly any rambling rants from the familiar, Yeosang was starting to get worried.

“What’s wrong?” He finally caved. He had fifteen minutes of his shift left. Fifteen minutes till midnight and not a word from his servant in the past hour.

Jongho visibly snapped out of his thoughts, whipping his head up from the book he had been staring at for the past few hours. He looked at Yeosang, clearly confused.

“What do you mean?” He asked carefully.

Yeosang looked at him for a moment with a scrutinizing gaze. Jongho fidgeted slightly.

“You’ve been quiet all day,” Yeosang answered, leaning against the front desk, and crossing his arms.

Jongho closed his book, sighing quietly and shifting in his chair.

“And that led you to believe something was wrong?” Jongho teased, smiling a rather mischievous smile. Yeosang scoffed, rolling his eyes, and looking away.

“Usually you talk my ear off,” Yeosang said, feeling slightly embarrassed for even asking, but he had to know if something was bothering his partner.

“Watching me that much, are you?” He continued to tease, seemingly avoiding the question at all costs.

“So? What if I am?” Yeosang snapped back.

Jongho laughed, mumbling ‘cute’ under his breath before standing up from his chair.

“Can’t you just answer the question?” He mumbled, refusing to look up at Jongho in case he would notice his embarrassment easier than he already did.

“I’ve…” Jongho stopped, collecting his thoughts, and carefully deciding on how to phrase what he was feeling. “I’ve just been worried, is all.”

“Worried?” Yeosang echoed. He understood being worried. The uneventful day worried him more than the near-death experiences of the days prior, in all honesty too. But worried to the point of silence seemed a bit extreme...

“Well yeah… I think it would be stupid not to be worried,” Jongho answered.

“What are you worrying about, then?” Yeosang asked. He wanted to understand what his servant was thinking; they shouldn’t keep secrets from one another.

“It’s stupid…” Jongho admitted, rubbing at the back of his neck. This was the first time Yeosang had seen him actually embarrassed.

“We can’t keep secrets from one another, Jongho,” Yeosang said quietly. “You’re the one who made that rule, remember?”

Jongho laughed, smiling as he looked over at Yeosang once more.

“Yes, but that was so you didn’t get yourself killed.”

“Alright, then this is so you don’t get _yourself_ killed,” Yeosang fired right back. Jongho looked at him, mildly surprised.

“My death wouldn’t mean anything,” Jongho mumbled.

Yeosang felt the sudden urge to reach out and hit his familiar for such a statement, but he didn’t think that would go over well.

“It would mean losing the war,” Yeosang started. “And it would mean losing a friend.”

“A friend?”

“Are we not?” Yeosang asked, wishing he had just hit Jongho instead. “Or do you consider our relationship to be more like business partners?”

“That’s not what I meant…”

Yeosang crossed his arms once more, waiting for Jongho to explain himself.

“It’s just… I’m pretty sure that’s the first time, in my centuries of existence, that anyone has ever called me their friend, out loud anyway…”

Jongho wouldn’t look up at him. It was understandable, Yeosang decided, especially considering Yeosang couldn’t look at him either. What a pair they made.

“You’ve saved my life so many times, we’ve done everything together for the past four days… I don’t know what else to call us,” Yeosang said, quietly trying to justify his choice of words.

“Friend sounds good to me,” Jongho decided before Yeosang could continue rambling. He looked up finally, giving Yeosang possibly the brightest smile that had ever been sent in his direction. He could feel the heat collecting on his face, but he refused to admit to himself that Jongho’s smile had any sort of effect on him.

“So… are you going to tell me what you were worried about all day then?” Yeosang asked again.

Jongho’s smile faded, his expression turning serious.

“It’s about what happened yesterday,” Jongho started.

“You mean when Archer attacked us?” Yeosang asked.

“Yeah exactly… I should’ve been able to detect him. He was right there, and I didn’t notice a thing… You could’ve died right then and there had his aim been just a centimeter better.”

“You’re not blaming yourself, are you? Because it’s not like it’s entirely your fault.”

“What do you mean?”

“I should’ve noticed something as well, and the fact that neither of us did means something else was probably at work. A mage with ‘crazy magic circuits’ and a tier one heroic spirit didn’t even notice a servant and his master right on top of them. Seonghwa must’ve been using a spell or something to keep their magic hidden from us,” Yeosang explained, trying to rationalize what could’ve gone wrong yesterday, mulling over every fact that could possibly point to an answer.

“Even so, I should’ve noticed something. I got too comfortable and forgot myself. We’re in the middle of a war and I should behave like such so you don’t get hurt or worse. And so today…”

“You were looking for potential attackers…” Yeosang finished when Jongho trailed off. His servant nodded. “You could’ve just told me.”

“And worried you?”

“I would prefer to know what’s going on with you, just as you like to know what’s going on with me.”

Jongho stayed quiet, looking troubled once more.

“What?” Yeosang asked with an eyeroll. He really didn’t understand why his servant was acting the way he was. Was it really so hard for Jongho to fathom that Yeosang genuinely cared about his safety just as much as Jongho clearly cared for his? What just wasn’t clicking for the other man?

“You confused me, Master.”

Yeosang shook his head with a small laugh; he could’ve figured that out.

“Look,” he started. “I don’t care that you were the ‘bad guy’ in all the stories. Nor do I care what’s written about you in all those books you keep reading. All I care about is if you can work with me so we can win this thing, okay?”

Jongho searched Yeosang’s face, probably looking for any tell that he was lying. He sighed deeply after finding nothing of the sort, before giving a shaky smile.

“I suppose that’s fair…” Jongho gave in. “I guess I’ll just have to get used to someone trusting me for once.”

“Yeah, you will,” Yeosang nodded, glad that they were _finally_ on the same page. “Now, let’s go home. I want to sleep.”

Jongho nodded in agreement.

Turning off the computers and the lights, Yeosang made for the front exit of the building, Jongho following closely behind him.

“Can I ask you something?” Jongho asked as Yeosang put in the passcode to lockdown the entire building.

“What? Are we playing twenty questions now?” Yeosang teased, checking to make sure that the doors were, in fact, locked.

Jongho snorted.

“It’s just a question, you ask fifty a day, so I think it’s only fair that I get to ask one every once in a while,” Jongho responded.

As Yeosang left the library, beginning his trek home, Jongho easily fell into step next to him.

“I guess that’s fair,” Yeosang grumbled. “But, you know, I only ask those questions because I’m trying to figure out what to do next.”

“Yeah, I get it. But I still have a question for you.”

“What is it?” Yeosang gave in. There wasn’t any point in refusing to answer.

“You live with your family, right? A sister, your mother, your father, and your grandmother?”

“Yeah?”

“Since I’ve been with you… four days now?” Jongho continued. Yeosang had no idea where this was going.

“Is there an actual question or are you just going to keep making observations?” Yeosang huffed.

“Why is it that I’ve never seen you interact with any of them? I know they’re home, and I’ve seen how everyone avoids everyone else in that maze of a home,” Jongho finally asked.

Yeosang laughed, it sounded bitter even to his own ears. He didn’t say anything for a moment, trying to come up with the best way to phrase the fact that he and his family weren’t exactly on speaking terms. Weren’t even on seeing-each-other terms.

“I’m sorry for asking…” Jongho said after a minute of silence. Obviously, and reasonably, mistaking his silence for reluctance to answer.

“No, it’s fine,” Yeosang said. “It’s just that everyone doesn’t avoid everyone else… everyone just avoids me.”

“Oh…” Jongho said, sounding genuinely confused. “Why?”

“Is it important?”

“Do you not want me to know?”

Yeosang sighed.

“I guess it really doesn’t matter.” Yeosang buried his hands in his jacket pockets. He had come to terms with all this five years ago when his grandfather died, and his life became the mess it is now. “It’s kind of a long story.”

“It’s kind of a long walk home,” Jongho shot back lightheartedly. He made a good point.

Yeosang sighed deeply, starting to regret the ‘no secrets’ deal he had just made with his servant already.

“It started about five years ago. My grandfather was terminally ill, on his death bed. There were a few things that he wrote into his will that… literally no one agreed with. It was basically everything now that I think about it again…”

“What do you mean?”

“He left everything: the estate, the fortune, the business, everything he owned, to me. Not his son, not his wife, not my older sister; me.”

“So you… own the house your family lives in?” Jongho asked slowly, trying to piece together everything Yeosang was telling him.

“And the money they use, and the business that provides money, and just about everything in the house…”

“Why?”

“Hell if I know… We never got an explanation. He didn’t live long enough to explain anything. My father was livid when he found out. The only thing that stopped him from just completely disowning me was that he’d be kicked out of the house and cut off from all the money without me around…”

“What about the others?”

“My mother had to listen to my father. My sister was just upset she was left out. As the youngest I should’ve gotten the least and yet I got everything. And my grandmother… well I don’t think she’s ever really liked me to begin with. Her ‘term of endearment’ for me is ‘freak’.”

Jongho mulled over everything, not saying anything but he had a thoughtful expression on his face.

“When did you realize you had magical abilities?” Jongho asked, seemingly out of nowhere.

“I don’t really remember,” Yeosang answered. “It wasn’t that long ago I don’t think.”

“Maybe a little bit before your grandfather died?”

“I… guess…? What are you getting at?” He tried again.

“Where you got your magical abilities from… It was probably your grandfather who gave them to you,” Jongho told him. “Your father wasn’t born with any magic circuits, and I guess neither was your sister, so the crest wasn’t passed down to them, but rather you. You, who was born with an insane amount of energy because they skipped a generation or two.”

Yeosang thought about what that could mean. Had his grandfather been a mage? Why would he never tell Yeosang anything? He had to have known. Hwanwoong had said that he’d been able to sense a mage like Yeosang from across the city, so his grandfather had to have known after seventeen years of living together. To just pass along the crest before his death, leave him with the estate but absolutely no knowledge of magecraft… that just didn’t seem like a good idea if his grandfather was at all concerned with continuing the Kang’s magical bloodline.

“Why wouldn’t he tell me anything?” Yeosang finally asked, voice barely above a whisper.

“I’m not sure… but what matters now is that you’re, for all intents and purposes, the head of the family. Whether the rest of your family members like it or not, or if they even know you’re a mage or not. That’s why you got command seals to represent your family as opposed to anyone else.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Yeosang said. It didn’t make him feel any better about his entire situation.

“So, a different question,” Jongho started.

“There’s more?”

“Now you know how I feel,” Jongho laughed. “You told me the other day that you worked at the library because you didn’t want to rely on your parents… but the money doesn’t belong to them, it’s yours. So why do you work there?”

“It’s easier to avoid everyone when you’re not home while they’re awake,” Yeosang mumbled. He felt so immature explaining his reasoning out loud, it sounded silly even to his own ears. But it was the only way to guarantee he wouldn’t have any unpleasant encounters with his family.

“I see…”

They walked quietly for a bit longer. They were almost off campus now.

“I have another question,” Jongho spoke up again.

“Really now?”

“Do you… do you not have any friends?”

“What?”

Yeosang was taken aback. What kind of question was that?

“You don’t interact with anyone. Your family, people on campus… You only talk to people in the library because you’re required to for your job and—”

“No, I don’t have anyone I consider a friend besides you. My only friend is a familiar I summoned and will disappear when this war is over. Now, are there any other questions you’d like to ask or are you just going to keep digging through my life?” Yeosang snapped, cutting Jongho off before he could continue. He didn’t like where this conversation was going.

“Yeosang…” Jongho said quietly, halting his movements. Yeosang stopped as well but refused to turn around. He found it strange to hear his name fall from Jongho’s lips, usually the man only called him ‘Master’.

“What?” He sounded angry, even to his own ears. Jongho moved to stand in front of Yeosang. He wore a rather conflicted look, like he wanted to say a million different things but couldn’t decide where to start.

But then his eyes widened, his soft expression turning hard and infinitely more alarmed. He bolted around Yeosang, holding his arms out slightly in a protective manner. Yeosang whipped around, equally as alarmed as his servant but he wasn’t sure the reason why.

He could sense it now, though. The magical energy that could only mean another mage and their servant.

The pair walked up to them slowly.

One was tall, meandering casually with his hands in his pockets. He was dressed rather formally: a blue tweed jacket with leather patches over the elbows and matching brown dress pants. His brown hair was styled neatly, not a strand out of place. He looked to be about as old as Yeosang, maybe a year older.

The other man with him was significantly shorter; the top of his head only came to the taller man’s nose. Yeosang recognized the shorter one right away. Slight build, an air of arrogance in the way he walked, shaggy black hair: Mordred. He wasn’t dressed in armor, but rather in street clothes, but that could change quickly if they weren’t careful.

Yeosang braced himself as Jongho had, activating his crest in case they were about to be attacked.

The other mage looked alarmed at Jongho’s and Yeosang’s sudden defensive stance. He held up his hands, halting his movements forward. His servant stopped as well, a confident smirk on his face as he stood with his hands in his pocket.

“Woah… We’re not looking for a fight,” the mage said. “We just want to talk.”

“Why should we believe you?” Yeosang asked.

“Because if I wanted to kill you, we wouldn’t have revealed our location to you,” the mage said.

Yeosang released his magical energy; the guy made a good point. Jongho however stayed on guard, standing in front of Yeosang like a protective shield. His stance was tense, his gaze focused solely on the saber servant.

“How do we know your servant won’t try something?” Yeosang asked, more for Jongho’s sake than his own.

The saber scoffed.

“I’ve got strict order to keep my temper,” Mordred said. “You can call him off.”

Jongho looked back at Yeosang.

_“We shouldn’t trust them,_ ” his voice echoed in Yeosang’s head.

_“We don’t have to trust them to listen to them,”_ Yeosang responded. Jongho looked conflicted but stepped to stand next to him instead of in front. He was still on guard, everything about his posture said so.

“Fine then,” Yeosang said, turning back to the pair. “What do you want to talk about?”

The other mage cleared his throat, stepping closer to Yeosang. Jongho took a sharp breath as if he expected an attack but the other mage only held out his hand.

“My name’s Yunho. Jeong Yunho, I’m an elemental specialist, but I guess that’s not really important right now,” Yunho introduce. Yeosang tentatively took the other man’s hand, shaking it slightly before letting go immediately. “This is Mordred… as you met yesterday.”

“But I go by Wooyoung in this realm,” the servant spoke up.

“Kang Yeosang,” he returned, purposefully leaving any information about Jongho out. They didn’t need to know anything.

“Yeah, I know who you are,” Yunho said. “Everyone does.”

Yeosang was taken aback by that.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Yeosang asked, backing away from Yunho cautiously.

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” Yunho admitted.

“You didn’t answer the question,” Jongho warned, very obviously holding himself back from trying to intervene. Yeosang grabbed his wrist in warning, Jongho glanced at him but continued to hold his ground.

“The family name, Kang…” Yunho started. “For regular humans, the name means money, a mansion, an extravagant lifestyle. But for mages, it means a very, very long lineage of magic. Strong, powerful, endless magical energy; anyone who grew up a mage in this area knows the name very well. Only, we were told that a mage hadn’t been born to the Kang family in almost fifty years. Obviously, the stories were wrong since you stand in front of me now.”

“Where is this going?” Yeosang asked. He had just finished a similar conversation with Jongho, and he really wasn’t interested in having a complete stranger pick apart his life.

“My point is that every mage in the country knows your family’s name and soon they’ll know yours as well.”

“I don’t see what you’re trying to prove.”

“Don’t you think it’s just a little strange that you get attacked one night and then the very next day, the kid that attacked you wants to form an alliance?” Yunho finally asked.

“How did you know I got attacked?” Yeosang asked in return.

“Please, everyone who has even a single magic circuit in their body felt the energy you used that night,” Mordred, or Wooyoung as he preferred, spoke up. He looked uninterested in this whole ordeal, as if he were forced to be there.

“Okay, then how do you know about Hwanwoong?”

“We’ve already run into him and his servant before. They didn’t put up much of a fight and ran once they saw Wooyoung was a saber servant. I only assumed he approached you yesterday because I saw you two flee the battle together.”

“Why should I tell you any details about anything?”

“Because I’m guessing that when he first came to you, you declined his invitation, right?” Yunho started. “And then not even an hour later you get attacked again, but this time by Archer, yes?”

“Yeah…?” Yeosang said, he looked to Jongho. His servant was clearly just as confused by what Yunho was telling as he was.

“Then Berserker, another in Hwanwoong’s little group, comes and saves the day. At which point, Wooyoung gets to the battle. You reveal that you actually _do_ have a servant to everyone in the war, but he ends up getting into a bit of trouble against Wooyoung, when you’re saved yet again. Assassin…”

“Another of Hwanwoong’s friends,” Wooyoung finished.

“Are you trying to tell me not to trust them?” Yeosang asked.

“What do you think?” Yunho responded.

Yeosang didn’t say anything. He had to admit, laid out plain like that really did make the events of yesterday look a little more than just coincidences. But if he started doubting his alliance before they even had a chance to do anything… what was even the point in joining the alliance? They were just a bunch of kids… he couldn’t— _wouldn’t—_ leave them to fend for themselves.

“Just think about it. Keep your guard up around those kids, specifically their leader. Hwanwoong, I think you said?”

“Why are you telling me this?” Yeosang asked. No matter which way he looked at it, he couldn’t figure out how telling him all this information was at all beneficial to Yunho.

“Just… if you ever find yourself in trouble. Like you can’t trust anyone anymore, come find me. We’d make a pretty unstoppable team.”

Another person who wanted Yeosang in their alliance… After what Yunho had told him, after what Hwanwoong had told him, after getting attacked by the both of them, he wasn’t sure who was telling the truth and who was just planting information to twist his point of view in their favor.

“We’ll see,” Yeosang announced. Yunho nodded.

“Think about it.”

He began to back up, hands slipping back into his pockets.

“I’ll see you around,” Yunho said finally, turning around to finally walk away. Wooyoung followed after him, waving in their direction once with that same confident smirk on his face.

As they left however, Yeosang felt something. A wave of energy. It didn’t last long, almost like a singular ping on a radar. Yunho and Wooyoung stopped walking, probably having sensed the same energy as well.

“What was that?” Yeosang asked aloud to anyone who would answer.

“Another servant,” Jongho answered, taking a step towards the source of the wave. The energy around them was beginning to fade but Yeosang could still sense where it had originated: Somewhere back on the college’s campus. Could it have been another student? Another person Yeosang saw everyday but was none the wiser to?

“It’s a calling card… for attention most likely. Whatever servant that’s over there is probably looking for a fight… or a chat I guess but that’s less likely,” Jongho explained further, turning back to face Yeosang. He looked anxious; not like he was looking forward to a fight, but rather dreading it.

“Should we answer?” Yeosang asked carefully.

“Depends. If that servant is looking for a fight this would be a pretty obvious trap.”

Yeosang watched up ahead as Wooyoung nodded to his master before they both went running towards the signal.

“Let’s go check it out…” Yeosang said quietly.

“Want to get into a fight that badly?”

“I don’t recognize the energy source,” Yeosang began. “So that means it’s probably Rider and if that’s the case then by observing a fight between him and another servant could provide some pretty valuable insight.”

Jongho laughed, rubbing at his forehead. “Damn you and your good points.”

“You sound like you don’t wanna go.”

Jongho sighed. “We can talk about my problems later. Let’s just get over there.”

Yeosang nodded begrudgingly; if something was still bothering Jongho, he wanted to know. But he knew this wasn’t the time nor the place to pick each other apart; not when there was a servant openly declaring his position to everyone in the area. Who knows how many servants would answer the call? They had to be on their guard.

“Stay close to me,” Jongho said so softly, barely above a mumble. There were so many emotions in Jongho’s face that Yeosang couldn’t decipher. He nodded in understanding, trying to keep his embarrassment off his face. Then, they both took off running down the street towards the fading signal.

They found the source in the circular guard; the very center of campus surrounded by tall buildings filled with classrooms and lecture halls. The large, grassy area provided no cover besides a few small trees. It was the perfect spot to avoid ambushes, whoever this servant and master pair were, they were at the very least tactical.

Upon getting closer, the source of the energy became clear. In the very center of the clearing, Yeosang could make out a singular figure. A man, tall yet rather skinny, stood proudly in the very center of the circle. He was dressed casually: sweater, jeans, canvas shoes with long blonde hair tied back messily. But from the energy pouring off the man, Yeosang wasn’t fooled by the appearance. The man was a servant, and his master was nowhere to be seen.

Wooyoung and Yunho were nearby, looking at the man with equal confusion.

“Welcome!” The servant yelled excitedly. “I was beginning to think no one would come!”

Yeosang looked to Jongho.

_“What is he doing?”_ He asked.

_“I’m not sure,”_ Jongho responded. _“But this is either a brilliant trap or the stupidest plan I’ve ever seen.”_

_“Let’s hope for stupidest plan,”_ Yeosang said, he turned towards Wooyoung and Yunho. Yunho shrugged when he caught his eye, clearly just as confused by this as Yeosang was. What master would willingly call every servant in the war to their own? The rider class of servants wasn’t particularly talented, if what Jongho had told him was true, and would fail miserably against the other six should they all show up at once to oppose him. What could be this man’s motive?

Across the clearing, another pair started walking closer. Yeosang recognized them immediately: Seonghwa and his servant, Hongjoong. It made sense that the three of them would be the ones to answer this call. They all lived on campus or near enough to it to respond quickly. If any of the others in his alliance felt the energy, it would take a while for them to get here. Could that have been on purpose? Yeosang suddenly felt more uneasy than before.

“Ah more guests!” The servant in the middle of the clearing called. He looked excited, like he couldn’t actually believe people showed up to answer him. “I think we an get started now.”

“What are you playing at, Rider?” Yunho yelled to the servant.

The man only smiled in response, ignoring the question completely as he continued: “I’d like to ask you all a few questions that will hopefully end up beneficial for us all.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Wooyoung asked.

_“Is this a trap?”_ Yeosang asked. Jongho looked just as unsure.

_“I don’t know… but we should stay on high alert.”_

He didn’t need to be told twice. He began to survey the area with a much more careful eye. He could clearly feel Jongho’s energy, though that was to be expected since he was attached to Yeosang’s mana. His aura appeared a deep, pleasant blue, almost black but not quite so dark. Next to them, Wooyoung’s energy came to him a lot stronger than Yunho’s. Their red and yellow auras complimented each other as well. Across the way, Yeosang could faintly feel Seonghwa’s light red, almost pink and Hongjoong’s bright blue auras as wells as Rider’s green in the middle. But other than those six, there were no others in the vicinity. Rider’s master must not have been anywhere close enough for Yeosang to detect and that meant, he was nowhere close enough to mount a surprise attack against any of them. Though Yeosang seriously doubted a single mage would attack with three servants in the area. Not even Yeosang was that impulsive.

“Let me first introduce myself. You all already know I’m Rider for this Holy Grail war by now and though I’d rather not tell you my true name, I can offer you the one my master helped me pick out. You may call me Dongju if you’d like.

“I can also assure you all that this is not a trap, I merely wanted to talk to all of you,” Dongju finished explaining. Yeosang was not convinced, however. And apparently no one else was buying it either.

“You know, that’s exactly what someone who was setting up a trap for all of us would say,” Hongjoong yelled from across the way.

The servant’s first response was to laugh, as if Hongjoong had just told him the funniest joke he’d ever heard.

“Brilliant observation, Archer. But isn’t that also what someone who actually wasn’t setting a trap would say as well? If I wanted to surprise attack you all, I wouldn’t have waited for six of you to show up. I also wouldn’t have been standing out in the open waiting for you all to show up. Now before you all accuse me of anything else, I’d like to propose my support.”

“You’re looking for an alliance?” Yunho asked.

“With all of us?” Seonghwa added.

“With whoever will have me, but if the seven of us teamed up with my master, we’d be pretty unstoppable against the other three, don’t you agree? The three strongest classes all on one team would be pretty impressive. Might even give Berserker a run for his money.”

“Yeah? And what’s stopping us from teaming up against you right now? You’re just one servant. What’s stopping the strongest classes from teaming up and ending this for you?” Wooyoung was the next to ask a question.

“A sense of decency, maybe? We’re all heroic spirits, surely we can act with at least a modicum of decorum, hm?”

The servant had a point. Yeosang doubted, even if no one accepted Dongju’s offer, that any of the servants here would willingly attack the man. Yeosang had no intention of fighting tonight.

“What’s in it for us if we let you join us? You’re just looking for an easy ride to the final servants,” Hongjoong accused.

“You’ve caught me,” Dongju said, he looked utterly bored, holding his hands up in surrender. “That’s exactly what I want, how could you ever have guessed such a thing? But did you consider that even if you did carry me to the end, I’d be such an easy target to take out?”

“But we’d also be taking each of us to the end. The three strongest servants in an all-out at the end doesn’t sound appealing to me,” Yunho continued.

“Yes, but if you haven’t noticed. Assassin, Caster, and Berserker have all already teamed up. Add to that those two.” Dongju pointed at Yeosang and Jongho. The other two pairs of servants and masters looked towards them as Dongju continued. “And you’ve got another hard to beat team. But with the four of them, I’m one hundred percent certain it would be Mr. Kang winning the whole thing.”

From across the field, Seonghwa and Hongjoong immediately began discussing something in hushed tones. Wooyoung shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot next to them as well. What Dongju had just said clearly didn’t sit well with others in the clearing.

“You know, if you want someone to leave anther alliance to join you, putting a target on their backs isn’t such a good tactic,” Jongho spoke up.

“Yes, but even if you two don’t join me, I’ll still have effectively pinned these two against you. Can’t you see my diabolical plans? I’m clearly not a threat, my master isn’t even a mage! But you, Mr. Kang, are most certainly the biggest threat in this war. I hope you know what you’ve gotten yourself into.”

Yeosang didn’t like where this had gone… All of a sudden, this whole situation began to make a lot more sense than just a simple temporary peace negotiation. Dongju wasn’t looking for a fight with the others and he most certainly wasn’t really looking for an alliance; he was looking for the three strongest servants to fight each other. More specifically, he was targeting Yeosang. It was a trap, just not meant for all of them.

Yeosang looked to Jongho, and Jongho understood almost immediately what he was thinking. They couldn’t run, though. If they did, that would immediately prompt the others to attack. Wooyoung and Yunho were too close, they’d never be able to escape without some sort of a fight.

Yeosang slowly began backing away from the group, making sure that no one was looking when he did. Jongho moved in front of him, defensive but not enough to cause alarm to anyone looking at them.

He wasn’t sure what he could say to stop whatever was going to happen next.

“Yeosang,” Yunho called to him, not loud enough for Dongju, Seonghwa, or Hongjoong to hear. “Remember what I offered?”

But before Yeosang could respond with anything, an echoing laugh boomed around the clearing. It sounded wholly deranged, like the person it belonged to was completely insane. Yeosang felt a sense of dread… he recognized that voice.

The four servants each braced themselves, frantically searching for the source of the laughter. Jongho, like Yeosang, immediately knew who they were dealing with and took the opportunity to move even closer to Yeosang.

The man walked into the clearing, to the left of where everyone else stood. He staggered immensely, like he had to force his body to walk froward. His movements were more like jerks and it took his entire body to move. His suit was disheveled and his hair wild. He carried his giant battle scythe in one hand, blade pointed towards the ground. He staggered closer, laughing maniacally with ever step he took like he was off in his own reality.

“It looks like San snapped…” Jongho mumbled.

“What could have caused it?”

“My guess? So many powerful mages and servants in one spot. We should get out of here and fast. In that state, he’d attack anyone. Friend or foe.”

Yeosang nodded, but before they could start their escape, San started to speak.

“There you are, Rider!” He laughed. “We’ve been looking all over for you.”

He pointed at the servant in the middle of the clearing, putting his whole body into the motion. Clearly, he wasn’t quite in charge of his own actions any longer. The insanity of the Berserker class taking over entirely.

“Berserker,” Rider greeted. “There was probably a good reason I was hiding from you.”

“What a scaredy cat!” The servant laughed, completely ignoring what Dongju had told him. “I just wanted to kill you, is that so much to ask for? To kill all of you?!”

San didn’t wait for any sort of response, instead, he ran at the rider servant with a lot more dexterity than he had been walking with. He ran in a zig zag, laughing his head off. Dongju watched in horror before quickly zipping away from the servant in an instant. He jumped into the air, floating up off the ground far enough out of the reach from the servant trying to murder him. San looking up at him, standing where Dongju had been seconds before, maddening smile still on his face. His head was cocked to the left as he watched Dongju in the air, arms dangling in front of him lifelessly.

“Always running away!” San sing-songed, spinning in a circle. “How boring!” He stopped spinning and zeroed in on Hongjoong now instead, standing a short way away. “Hello Archer! We never got to finish our fight!”

Seonghwa began running away as fast as his spell would allow him, probably on Hongjoong’s orders. But San seemed wholly uninterested in Seonghwa, he focused solely on the Archer servant, who instantly transformed himself into his battle garb.

While Hongjoong erupted into a bright field of blue electricity to transform into his servant form, Yeosang felt a tug on his arm, pulling him away from the battle. Upon noticing Hwanwoong’s arrival to the battle, Jongho quickly followed along.

“You’ve gotta stop pulling me around,” Yeosang told the teen as they headed away from the battle.

“Yeah well, if you haven’t noticed, Mingi lost control of San and everyone in this area is in a massive amount of danger,” Hwanwoong explained. “It’s best we run. When we’re far enough away not to be tracked, Mingi’ll use a command seal to calm San and call him back.”

“Where are we going?” Yeosang asked, noticing that Hwanwoong was pulling him in the opposite direction he remembered the boy’s apartment to be.

“I don’t know,” Hwanwoong shook his head. He sounded frantic, incredibly worried.

“Keonhee saw Saber’s master lurking around my apartment complex today, asking questions about me, Mingi, and Seoho. He knows where I live at the least and I don’t have the ability to put up magical wards around the entirety of the building…. We can’t go to Seoho’s or Mingi’s because they have family that could easily get hurt…” Hwanwoong began frantically rambling on as San’s laughs and mad comments continued to echo around the clearing, gunshots soon joining the noise.

“Let’s got to my place,” Yeosang offered quickly. It was late, his family would all be asleep. And even if they weren’t, Yeosang doubted any of them would tell him off for having friends over so late; it was his house, after all. He’d placed all the ward spells he could think of over the house before leaving for work today, strong enough ones that even Jongho had been impressed. Nothing magical would get in unless Yeosang allowed it or it was completely out of his league to deal with. “It’s protected, we’d be safe there even if everyone knows where I live.”

An explosion went off, followed by a blinding white light. Hongjoong had a larger gun now, Wooyoung and Yunho were nowhere to be seen, and Rider still hovered above the battlefield. A large shell had hit San squarely, but when the light died down, it had no effect. San only continued giggling, staggering slowly towards San, almost mockingly.

Hwanwoong glanced back at Yeosang, considering his offer carefully and looking rather reluctant but nodded anyway. He took off in the direction of Yeosang’s home, seeming to know the way rather well. Maybe Yunho did have a point earlier… Everyone in the city knew who he was, maybe not his face, but definitely his family’s name… including Hwanwoong. Regardless, Yeosang followed Hwanwoong down the street, with Jongho only a few steps behind him. Yeosang was getting tired of running away from battles, but it was probably for the best until they could get a solid plan down.

Yeosang ran up to his front porch, mentally giving Hwanwoong and his servant the right to step through his wards. Then, and only then, did Hwanwoong seem to relax a little. Yeosang braced himself against a column, trying to catch his breath. Jongho looked to him worriedly. Silently understanding Jongho’s question, Yeosang nodded in reassurance that he would be okay.

Hwanwoong summoned a small fox-like familiar, telling it a quick message before it ran off. Probably to tell Mingi to call San off. Outside the protection of the wards, Yeosang saw Keonhee and Seoho approach at a running speed. Another quick thought, and they both were allowed into the warded area. They joined them on the porch.

“What the hell happened out there?” Seoho asked no one in particular but looked towards Yeosang and Jongho.

“We were walking home from Yeosang’s night job,” Jongho started. “When we felt Rider’s calling. We figured we should check it out. Back on campus we found Rider, but Saber and Archer showed up first as well.”

Seoho nodded. Keonhee looked between the two of them with a confused looked on his face. Yeosang felt worry ping through his stomach. Jongho had left out their little chat with Yunho and Wooyoung, with good reason; but if Keonhee had been surveying the city he could have seen that conversation happen. Thankfully, the assassin servant said nothing more.

“We felt it too, just a bit delayed. Keonhee watched the whole thing from afar. What did Rider want?” Seoho asked.

“An alliance,” Yeosang answered. “He wanted to team up with the three knight classes and when we all seemed reluctant, he tried to turn them all against me.”

“Then San showed up,” Jongho finished.

“When he felt the servant’s call, he freaked out completely. There wasn’t anything Mingi could do, short of using a command spell. But when Keonhee noticed you were there and it looked like the conversation took an unfortunate turn, we let San go to provide a distraction,” Hwanwoong explained.

“Thanks for that,” Yeosang said. “I don’t know how I would’ve gotten out of that situation without your help.”

“See? Having an alliance is a good thing,” Hwanwoong teased. Yeosang smiled but offered nothing else, he felt too conflicted after learning everything Yunho had to tell him to agree with Hwanwoong at the moment.

“Mingi and San are coming,” Keonhee said quietly, looking down the street. Yeosang could barely make out two figures coming down the street. One was supporting the other while the other wasn’t moving at all and his feet dragged across the pavement, completely passed out.

As soon as they were close enough, Yeosang gave them permission to enter. They all went into the house together then. Yeosang led them first to a bedroom where they laid San down on the bed.

“What happened?” Yeosang asked.

“When I used the spell, he teleported back to me but passed out on site. I’m sure that was the only way for him to calm down from the bloodlust. He should wake up in a few hours,” Mingi said. “I hope…”

“He can stay here then, you all can if you’d rather not leave,” Yeosang told them.

“What about your family?” Seoho asked.

“They won’t mind,” Yeosang answered. More like they really couldn’t mind.

“Then we’d appreciate it a lot,” Hwanwoong smiled. “I really don’t like the idea of going back to my apartment if Saber’s master knows where I live.”

“He probably knows where we all live,” Mingi added quietly. The three teenagers went silent again, clearly very worried about being attacked in their own homes. The threat to their lives was very real and it was really starting to sink in.

“Let’s go somewhere to talk,” Yeosang said, trying to turn their conversation away from the dark path it was headed down. “Let San sleep off the spell in peace.”

The three teens nodded along with Keonhee, and they left the room. Jongho pulled Yeosang back a bit.

“Are you sure about this?” He asked him, barely above a whisper.

“You see how scared they are, don’t you?” Yeosang asked. “They’re not faking it.”

“Fair enough.”

“And if they try anything, the entire place is charmed.”

That seemed to convince Jongho enough for now. They followed the rest of them out into the hallway and Yeosang led them all through the house to a large living room. It was close to one-thirty in the morning. His family wouldn’t wake for another six hours at the least and by then everyone would be in a bedroom. They’d never even notice that Yeosang had three people over.

They conversed for a time. Discussing what they could do if San ever snapped again for no reason. If putting him to sleep quelled the madness, then Youngjo could cast a spell that didn’t use a command seal. And if Youngjo wasn’t in a position to do such a thing, Yeosang would be their next best bet to cast a strong enough spell to put San out.

Keonhee also introduced himself formally. He was rather quiet as a whole but seemed decent enough. Not as bold as Youngjo or as strange as San. The three teenagers and their servants certainly made a strange group of people. Throw Yeosang and Jongho into the mix and the group became even weirder.

It was around two o’clock when they all decided to get some sleep. It was the weekend tomorrow, who knew what could happen if they left the mansion. They all needed sleep if they were to be at their best for tomorrow.

Yeosang showed them each to a guest bedroom around the house, keeping them all in close proximity to Yeosang’s own bedroom. He instructed them to come to his room whenever they woke up and to no wander the house without him. He made sure they knew it was only because his family would not react well to visitors if Yeosang was not around to explain who they were. It wouldn’t end well for anyone.

Yeosang led Hwanwoong to a room last and before he could leave, he stopped him.

“I know you were talking to Saber’s master before Rider’s calling card,” he said, sounding entirely too threatening for Yeosang to think this was a casual conversation. “Keonhee saw it and relayed it back to me. He thought it was strange.”

“He offered his allegiance if I left the three of you,” Yeosang explained. There was no use denying it if Hwanwoong knew the truth. There wasn’t any crime in talking to another person.

“And you said?”

“I told him I had no reason to leave the three of you.”

“Good,” Hwanwoong said. Yeosang felt slightly annoyed that a boy, no older than eighteen, was talking down to him like he was a young child. “If that answer ever changes, I won’t hesitate to end this myself.”

And with that he closed the door and shut Yeosang out of one of his own guest rooms. With a shaky sigh, Yeosang left towards his own room.

Once there, he shut the door and all but slammed his head against the closed door.

Why was this all so confusing?! Could he do nothing right? He supposed this was the exact situation Yunho had hoped to cause with his little chat. Confuse Yeosang. Make him falsely doubt the people he trusted most and put his allies on edge by approaching Yeosang in a public area. God damn it! What was he going to do now? What should he do? Hwanwoong had basically just made a threat to his life if he ever so much as suspected Yeosang’s allegiance waning.

“Hey,” a quiet voice called to him. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

He felt a hand on his shoulder, felt Jongho’s presence materialize beside him. Yeosang shook his head. He felt the all too familiar sting in his eyes from holding back tears, felt ashamed over wanting to cry over something so silly. He didn’t trust his voice not to give him away, it probably wouldn’t come out above a whisper.

“Come here,” Jongho said, pulling Yeosang towards him carefully. Yeosang didn’t resist, he felt physically, mentally, and emotionally drained. A hand was placed on either of Yeosang’s shoulders, and Jongho bent down slightly to look into his eyes. Yeosang looked at anything but the terribly worried face in front of him. “Look at me,” Jongho instructed.

A hand came up to Yeosang’s chin, gently prodding him to look at Jongho finally. Upon seeing the pure, unfiltered worry in those brown eyes, Yeosang broke down. He leapt in to Jongho’s arms, embracing him in a tight hug. Jongho was clearly confused at first but easily returned the hug after realizing that Yeosang was now quietly crying against his chest.

He allowed Jongho full access to his thoughts, so he didn’t have to explain his confusion out loud. Jongho’s grip tightened around Yeosang’s waist as he heard all the rambling confusion and anxiety that was his current thoughts.

“It’s okay,” he offered quietly, soothingly running a hand through Yeosang’s hair. “Do you want to trust Hwanwoong and the others?” He asked.

Yeosang nodded, burying his face a little deeper into Jongho’s chest, bathing in the comfort he got from being held so securely.

“Then we will. Even if that’s the wrong choice. Even if they all turn against you. You’re not alone in this, remember?” Jongho said. He moved to look down at Yeosang, wiping a tear away from his cheek. “No matter what happens, no matter who turns against you, no matter what anyone says. You’ll always have me.”

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope you enjoy! I'm starting just a bunch of stories to give myself more variety when I sit down and start writing. That way, I don't feel so boxed in by just one fic and can take my pick of what I feel like writing. Hopefully you all enjoy the different choices as well! I'm excited to rework this story since I loooooove this anime franchise so so much. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! All comments appreciated. 
> 
> Follow me on Twitter! @AAvery151


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